The President's Eyes
by Kara Green
Summary: The story behind Micro-Ice is a complicated one. No one on the team would believe who the father of the team's joker was. Micro-Ice/OC in later chapters.
1. Hasty beginnings

Chapter One

_So, here's my first GF fanfic, I've been off for several weeks and decided, hey, why not? Reviews and critique are always welcome :)_

Mana-Ice looked out at the crystal clear sky; everything in her life was going great. She had a faithful, loving husband, great friends, she lived on a beautiful planet and the Akillian team would be playing to compete in the final 16 in Genesis Stadium today. However, something was missing. It hurt Mana-Ice to see several of her friends ready to bring new life in to the world any day now. Mana-Ice and Zain had been trying for so long. Mana-Ice was beginning to have doubts about her ability to have children; no matter how many times he tried to assure her, she couldn't help but blame herself. As she was about to get up to prepare lunch, the ground began to shake, knocking her back on to the chair. Looking out the window, her heart dropped. Blasts of ice covered Akillian, her home town, right in front of her very eyes. Turning to call Zain, her body suddenly went limp and cold. She tried to raise herself up by her elbows, falling flat to the ground again. Feeling every cell in her body freeze, she let out a whimper.

'Z-Zain?' was all she managed before her vision blackened.

It had been almost a year since she left Akillian with her husband, still unaware of her situation. Almost a year since Zain had taken up his position in the city of Cordale, a city in which many important political figures come to live and work. It had been several days since the birth of her son. She couldn't help but smile at every twitch of his tiny fingers, every time she looked in to those big, beautiful eyes, every time he blew small bubbles from the corner of his tiny mouth. He was her angel, and that wasn't going to change.

'Is he up?' Mana-Ice jumped out of her trance when she heard this. She wasn't expecting to see her husband today; after all, he was a very busy man.

'Yes, he just woke up,' she replied, bouncing her tiny bundle of joy, beaming with joy. How could something so small bring her so much joy?

'If only he would sleep at night,' he was now stroking the child's soft, raven coloured hair. Although he was exhausted, due to working most of the day and the night spent hearing the needy screams of his son, he couldn't help but take his son in his arms and cradle him. He wished so much that he could spend more time with the newborn, but these small moments would do for now, 'did you dress him in an Akillian jersey?'

Mana-Ice was slightly confused, 'yes, why?'

'I thought the Akillian team was finished…'

'Well, yes, but just look how cute he is!' She gently held and shook the tiny boy's hands, giggling to herself slightly.

'Honey, you know how I feel about football.' He sighed and handed the child back to his wife 'find him something else to wear.'

'Zain, grow up, it's just a jersey! Besides, maybe if we return to Akillian, he may-'

'Mana, please!' He was starting to get tired of her obsession with the Akillian team 'The Akillians are finished; they're in the past. I don't want my son to pursue dreams that will never happen. There will never be a successful team from Akillian again!' Just thinking of her irrational obsession concerning this matter, 'I'm going to bed. Goodnight.'

These arguments were becoming increasingly common, though she just shook them off, thinking nothing of them. As she watched him walk away, she looked at her son. He was the spitting image of _him._ She allowed him to grasp her finger. When she was pregnant with him, she swore that he would be a great footballer, especially with the numerous nights she was disturbed from her slumber because of the tiny, developing feet attacking her womb. Snapping out of her gaze, she saw that he had drifted off again in her arms. The corner of her lips curved into a gentle smile. He was her baby. The one who could make her smile in the worst circumstances. Her Micro-Ice.


	2. The Realization

Chapter 2

_Not much to say here, but here's the second chapter anyway. Again, reviews and critique are always welcome :)_

'_Pass it, Micro-Ice!' _

'_No! Don't play so selfishly!'_

'_Excellent block, Ahito!'_

'_What a goal!'_

These words of encouragement from their coach rang through their earpieces all too often. It was nearing the end of the quarter-final; the Snowkids were beating the Cyclopes' 3-0 with only 15 minutes left of match play.

'_Tia, stay in position, Mei and Thran are more than capable of handling defence!'_

'_Yes, that's how you play!' _

'_Micro-Ice, what have I told you about putting on a one-man show?'_

'_Micro-Ice, get back in position!'_

The young striker sighed. A majority of the criticism from his coach's mouth was directed at him. He always seemed to overlook the flaws of his teammates; such as Mei's constant posing on the field? Or Rocket's infamous ballet performance in mid-play? Or- *SMACK* His thoughts were cut short by the ball hitting him full-force in the face.

'..Ow'

He felt a warm liquid trickle down his nose. _Great, just great_. His suspicions were confirmed when a still-laughing D'Jok simply handed him a tissue before collapsing on to Thran with laughter. How in the name of the Breath did he manage to get hit in the face by the ball? He managed a chuckle himself, noticing that even the one-eyed midgets were laughing. A nosebleed was nothing to worry about, he just had to wipe the tissue across his nose and resume play.

'_Micro-Ice, stay focused!' _

'Sorry, coach.' Well, he certainly wasn't amused.

The match ended 4-1 to the Snowkids. The Cyclopes' had managed to score at the last minute when the Snowkids were still distracted by Micro-Ice's misfortune.

'What a game, guys. Nice one,' D'Jok said whilst giving the thumbs up to his team.

'We couldn't have done it without that free-kick in the first half,' Thran smirked at Micro-Ice, who was nursing his nose with an icepack.

'I can't believe you managed to get tackled by that little thing,' Tia wasn't holding in her amusement very well as she covered her mouth with one of Rocket's dreadlocks.

'Always happy to assist,' Micro-Ice beamed.

'You certainly assisted in denting their goalpost.'

'The ball changed direction, I was ready to score!'

'Micro-Ice...You ran straight into the goalpost. Don't sugar coat it,' Rocket was trying to sound as serious as possible, but not even he could look the boy balancing an ice-pack on his face without snorting in laughter.

The mocking went on for 10 minutes before the Snowkids left to watch the Rykers vs. Pirates match in the lounge. Micro-Ice quickly gathered up his things and scurried out of the room, joining the others in the lounge.

'And the Rykers crush the Pirates 5-3! This means that they will be facing the reigning champions, the Snowkids, 3 weeks from now. The suspense will be tremendous!'

Rocket took it upon himself to turn off the holo-tv. Although they knew that would be the outcome, the young team had hoped that the Pirates would be victorious.

'Well, Kernor here we come,' an unenthusiastic Micro-Ice said while rising from the sofa slightly.

'Alright Snowkids, I expect you to be in the holo-training room in an hour.'

The seven young players jumped slightly, having not noticed their coach come in.

'You heard me, go and change.'

This was met with sighs of exhaustion and grunts of protest. They all slowly rose and dragged themselves to their rooms.

_Several hours earlier_

'Benson, you know how I feel about football, why do you insist on me watching it?' He sighed as he sat beside his trusted advisor.

'Sir, it is the most loved sport among the galaxy, it may benefit you to see this match.'

'Very well, turn it on.' He wasn't looking forward to this; he didn't have a very high opinion of football. When the teams came to the pitch, the blue and white jersey caught his eye. It couldn't be.

'Benson, tell me, where is the human team from?'

'Sir, that's the Akillian team. They're the current cup champions.'

'You don't say…'

A few more minutes into the match, the white haired man froze in shock.

'Benson, tell me, who is that young fellow that fell over that Cyclops?'

'Oh, Zain come on now, that's Micro-Ice. He does know how to put on a show, don't you agree?' He explained, still chuckling at the striker's misfortune.

'Benson, as soon as this match is over, I need you to do something for me.'

_After training_

'Alright, Snowkids, we're done for the day.' This one sentence brought sighs of relief to the young players standing before him, 'I just have one announcement to make before you hit the showers.'

The teenagers looked at him curiously, waiting to hear the news.

'Snowkids, we have been invited to meet the president of the Galaxy in two days!'


	3. The Arrival

CHPT3

'_Snowkids, we have been invited to meet the president of the Galaxy in two days!'_

These words made Micro-Ice go pale, for a few seconds he couldn't remember how to breathe. He looked over at D'Jok with wide eyes. Of course, he was looking back, biting his lip.

'Erm, coach? Do we _have_ to go?'

'Of course we have to go, Micro-Ice; we've all been invited!'

'Sure thing, Sir.' As he was contemplating a way to get out of this mess, the team chattered around him excitedly:

'_What do we wear?'_

'_Is this for real?'_

'_I can't believe this!'_

Micro-Ice decided to play along, he began nodding his head and trying to smile. He knew his father had a very low opinion on football. Why would he even invite them to his home?

_5 hours before departure to Cordale_

Micro-Ice lay on his bed, the last thing he wanted to do at 2 am was pack his back to stay in his estranged father's house for 4 days. Why did Aarch even agree to this? They had an important match coming up, this trip wouldn't help them one bit. He had already spoken to his mother on the matter. She suggested that he should cherish the idea of seeing his father again. What great help she was.

'Micro-Ice, aren't you packing?' D'Jok questioned as he packed another skirt into his case. Mei had filled both her own suitcases and half of D'Jok's with her outfits that she just _couldn't go without for four days_.

'I'm hoping that you'll all leave without me,' the youngest of the team sighed, trying to sound like the clown he usually was.

'Come on, Micro-Ice,' D'Jok took his pillow and threw it at his little brother.

'Hey, my nose still hurts, watch it, airhead,' Micro-Ice exclaimed, removing the pillow from his face, sitting upright on the bed.

'Airhead? You're giving me airhead? Why you- you're trying to change the subject, aren't you?' He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

'Darn, you're getting better at that,' the sarcastic tone in the midget's voice almost made his roommate throw another pillow in his face.

'If you're not going to pack, I'll do it for you… And you know what happens when I pack your bags,' he had a sly smile on his face. It was true; D'Jok would ensure something went wrong when it came to packing his best friend's things.

'Fine,' the younger of the two sulked, pulling his case from under the bed, 'but you're going to have to help me.'

'Sure, if it gets me out of packing one more freakin' dress,' he eyed the bag on his bed evilly before walking over to assist his best friend.

They packed the usual; shirts, trousers, pyjamas, when Micro-Ice gently placed something in to the case that was all too familiar to the captain.

'You brought Flumpy?' As he said this, he mentally face palmed himself.

'Of course I brought Flumpy! I take him everywhere, D'Jok,' the younger striker grinned while holding the plushie up to his face; a blue rabbit, a bit dirty from all the adventures it had been on with the duo, the once fluffy material had frayed, showing that this was an old bunny, D'Jok couldn't even count the times that Mana-Ice had to sow that damn right eye back on. He knew how much that stupid rabbit meant to him, it was to Micro-Ice what his bracelet was to D'Jok. He ruffled his black hair and laughed.

'You'll never grow up, will you?'

'It's part of my charm,' he grinned.

The time for boarding the ship came all too quickly for Micro-Ice. Although there was plenty to do on the ship, all he could do was sit and observe the actions of his teammates:

Rocket and Tia were sitting in their usual spot, watching the latest episode of _Desperation in Genesis, _the most loved soap opera in the galaxy. He had tried to watch it with the team once, it was nothing special, just the same old thing; a bunch of people who cry at every given opportunity, despite having no proper reason to. And they say footballers are dramatic! Still, the two lovebirds seemed to enjoy it. Mei was reading her daily magazine, it was clear to him that she was scanning it to see if her new campaign had been printed, it was obvious that it wasn't, she looked a little frustrated, but she knew it would be printed in the coming days. He continued to scan the room, it was the usual scene; Thran was completely slaughtering D'Jok in the newest fantasy war game, _Legend of Zyona 2; The Journey to Ryodan, _he had to laugh at D'Jok's failure, no one could measure up to Thran when it came to video games, not even Clamp. He couldn't see Ahito, did they leave him behind? The mystery was solved when the young striker looked down. When did the goalie fall asleep on his lap? He didn't mind much. It's not like he was going anywhere, it was a long flight and the younger twin needed his rest if he wasn't going to fall asleep when the president offered his hand for him to shake.

**7 hours until arrival**

They had been on the ship for 2 hours and the scene before him hadn't changed much; Thran and D'Jok were still going at it, it was still a humorous sight, D'Jok's frustration grew with every ship that was destroyed by Thran. Mei had finished her magazine and was now getting some beauty sleep, not that she needed it. Ahito had woken up around half an hour ago and went to see his twin defeating his airhead of a best friend; this lasted for several minutes before he surrendered to the wrath of sleep. He certainly hadn't changed a bit since they were little kids back on Akillian. Tia rested her head on Rocket's shoulder; she too was in a deep slumber while Rocket just stroked her hair gently, looking at her and smiling. This made Micro-Ice feel a little jealous; he hadn't seen his high school sweetheart, Shiloh, since his last visit to Akillian. He recalled that day very well:

'_Shi, are you sure you can't come with me?'_

'_Micro-Ice, I told you, I have to stay and look after the shop,' she looked away, knowing she wouldn't see him for a while._

_Micro-Ice raised her chin to look at him, 'don't you worry, I'll call you as often as I can,' was all he said before planting a kiss on her lips. It offered some warmth to the two of them in the harsh weather surrounding them. When they parted, he looked into her golden eyes; they blended in beautifully with her mahogany hair._

'_Promise?' It came out sounding more desperate than she had anticipated._

'_I promise.'_

He winced; he hadn't called her in almost a week. He'd call her later, there was too much on his mind for that.

**5 hours until arrival**

Not much had changed in the past few hours; Thran and D'Jok had stopped playing their game, of course, Thran won by a landslide, meaning that D'Jok would have to buy him a can of soda. Mei and D'Jok were now relaxing on the sofa, hands intertwined, they didn't speak, they just shared saliva for a while before drifting off into a deep sleep; the situation seemed almost comical. Thran was playing the latest football game on his new console. Needless to say, if he was half as good as this on the pitch, D'Jok wouldn't be deemed the star of the Snowkids. Ahito leaned on his brother's shoulder, also in a deep sleep. Rocket and Tia were the same story, the young striker wondered how the poor girl didn't suffocate in that hair. He gazed out the porthole, still nothing worth looking at.

**1 hour until arrival**

By now, the whole team had gone to dreamland, except for one. Micro-Ice watched his motionless teammates; they only had an hour until they would arrive at Cordale, he should probably try and sleep too. But how could he? He felt sick to his stomach just thinking about who was waiting for him in his former home. He decided he'd just look out the window…again.

'Aren't you going to get some rest?'

This made him jump out of his skin, mostly because he wasn't expecting anyone to be awake, he turned to see who it was, 'Oh, Dame Simbai, you scared me.'

'Are you okay Micro-Ice? You seem a little out of sorts.'

'I'm fine, Simbai,' he forced a smile, 'I'm just a little…nervous.'

'Even so, you should get some rest, you don't want to meet such an important man with bags under your eyes,' she said, trying not to sound to serious.

'Thanks Simbai, but I'll be fine, I'm not tired,' he smiled at the woman who showed concern for him.

'If you insist, if you need me, you know where to find me,' she gave a friendly smile before retiring to her medical room.

Had he really been sitting here for 8 hours just staring into a vast space of nothing? Maybe he did need to sleep, gosh, this trip was affecting him more and more.

'_Alright Snowkids, we're entering the city of Cordale, I advise you take a look out the porthole.'_

Micro-Ice opened his eyes; had he actually drifted off? He gazed out the porthole and, sure enough, they were approaching Cordale. As the rest of the team stared in awe at the large city, Micro-Ice simply cast his mind back to the first 5 years of his life; these years were spent growing up in this city.

'_Whoa, this place is huge!'_

'_Think of all the people that live here!'_

'_I bet I'd get some amazing camera footage here!'_

'_Think of all the shopping we could do here, D'Jok!'_

'_..Yay.'_

Amongst the excitement of the other teammates, Micro-Ice gazed at the industrialized city with completely different thoughts on his mind: _Why were they invited? Does his former home look the same? What could he possibly want?_

Before they knew it, they were inside the grand foyer; it was huge. No, huge was an understatement. The walls were pure white, marble columns lined the room in two straight lines. A dark haired man in a grey suit stood on a large, marble staircase with golden banisters, he looked eerily familiar.

'Ah, you must be the Snowkids, welcome to Cordale,' he said as he approached the young team and staff, 'my name is Benson, the president's advisor,' _Of course, how could I forget?_

'It's a pleasure to be here, Sir,' Aarch smiled before shaking the pompous man's hand.

'It's a pleasure to meet you all; you're quite an impressive team. Allow me to show you to your rooms, your luggage will be delivered to you within the hour. Follow me,' he said before gesturing them to follow him.

It had been 2 hours since their arrival; they were due to meet the president in half an hour; Micro-Ice felt sick at the thought of seeing _him_ again. The young striker was lounging on his bed trying to collect his thoughts when D'Jok emerged from the bathroom in just a towel.

'Micro-Ice, maybe you should get dressed?' Was all he said, noticing that his best friend was dressed in his usual attire.

'I'll just go like this.'

'Micro-Ice, Aarch made it clear that we had to dress in our best-.'

'I don't care, D'Jok, you can go in a suit if you like,' the frustration was growing in the teenager's voice.

The redhead sighed, 'M'Ice, I know how you must feel, but Aarch would have your hide if you showed up wearing that.'

'It's not like I'll end up in prison,' the younger of the two chuckled.

'Micro-Ice…'

'Alright, if it'll stop you moaning, I'll change,' he exclaimed with a slight smile as he saw a pillow hurtling towards him, hitting him in the face, 'nice, D'Jok, real nice.'

It was the moment that the young attacker had been dreading; the team and staff were lined up in a large room, perhaps even the size of the pitch in Genesis. The room was decorated with large bouquets of flowers; red, yellow, blue, pink; he let his thoughts wander when the large door creaked open; in stepped a tall, pompous man in a suit, his white hair almost blinding in the room's lighting. Micro-Ice's heart began to beat a hundred miles an hour when he realized who this man was.

_Dad._


	4. The Reunion

CHPT4

Micro-Ice's heart was beating so fast he was almost certain it was going to explode. As he got closer, he started to slip into a state of panic; his breathing sped up, a bead of sweat fell down his face, he was trembling.

_Hold it together._

'Welcome to you all, I'm honoured to have the privilege of meeting the current cup champions.'

_Please let that be it._

He began to make his way around the team, shaking each of their hands as he went.

_Please, no._

He was fast approaching; only D'Jok and Thran stood between him and the president.

_You can do this._

He proceeded to shake Thran's hand.

_I can't do this._

'D'Jok, it's a pleasure to meet you.'

_I can't breathe._

'Micro-'

*THUD*

He awoke to find himself in the bed he had been sitting on just hours ago. His vision was still a little blurry, but he eventually caught a clear picture of a figure by his bedside.

'D'Jok?' His voice was nothing more than a whisper.

'Hey, kiddo, have a nice nap?' In normal circumstances, a pillow would have collided with his face at that moment, but he just didn't have the energy.

'What happened?'

'You collapsed,' he turned his head the opposite way to see Simbai place a wet cloth on his head, 'you just need a good night's sleep and you'll be fine.'

'Thanks Simbai,' he gave the medic a thumbs up as she left the room before turning to D'Jok, 'I didn't, not in front of my dad!'

A sly smirk appeared on the redhead's face, 'actually… onto your dad.'

Micro-Ice buried his face in his hands, 'please tell me you're lying!'

'It was quite a scene, even for you,' he was unable to hold in his laughter, erupting in giggles.

'No, no, no!'

'Yes, yes, yes!' At this point, D'Jok was grabbing on to his chair to stop himself collapsing on to the floor.

Micro-Ice glared at his best friend until he was able to speak without, quite literally, rolling on the floor laughing. This seemed to go on forever until, eventually; he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and calmed himself down.

'Anything else I need to know?' Micro-Ice didn't stop glaring at him.

'Nope, nothing at all,' he was biting his lip, determined not to anger his friend more than he had already.

'Go ahead,' the younger of the two sighed, right on cue, D'Jok erupted into a fit of laughter, banging his fists on to the bed as he recalled the events that took place several hours before.

It was breakfast time the following morning and the young Akillian team were finishing off their buffet. Micro-Ice was feeling a little better; both physically and emotionally.

'Snowkids, may I have your attention?' They turned to see Benson standing beside Aarch at the head of the table. They gave him their full attention, 'I just have a few announcements to make. First of all, President Zain will be joining you for dinner at 6pm sharp; you will dine here, of course. Second of all, he requests that you take a day to yourself to explore Cordale, you will return at 5pm to prepare to dine,' this was met with approving smiles and chatter from the young players in front of him, 'last of all, President Zain requests the presence of Master Micro-Ice in his chambers immediately.'

That last part made Micro-Ice choke on his orange juice, with a pat on the back from D'Jok, he managed to compose himself, he looked up to see Benson waiting, with a sigh, he slowly rose from his seat and followed him to his father's personal room, despite knowing perfectly well where it was.

It didn't take too long to reach the door, despite the size of the mansion. Benson approached the door first, with 3 swift knocks and a twist of the door handle, they were inside.

'Sir, he's here.'

'Thank you, Benson; can you leave us alone now?'

With a slight bow, he turned on his heels and disappeared into the corridor. Micro-Ice turned to see his father with a glass of Whiskey in his hand, still facing the window. He slowly turned to face him; two pairs of grey-blue eyes met. For several seconds, the only sounds that could be heard were the chirping of the birds outside the window. This lasted until the older man placed his glass on the desk in front of him.

'Would you like a drink?'

'Water would be fine.'

The white haired man nodded and fetched a chilled bottle of water from a fridge in the room, placing it on a glass coffee table centred in the room, he signalled for the younger version of himself to sit down. They sat facing each other on the sofas surrounding the table.

'Son…' Micro-Ice looked up from the floor, even he can see that his son is hurt, 'is something wrong?'

Micro-Ice raised an eyebrow, he couldn't be _that _clueless!

'What was your first clue?'

The powerful man sighed and rubbed the back of his head. He had no good response, 'Micro-Ice, I'm sorry…'

'Oh, _you're_ sorry!' with fire burning in his eyes, he rose to his feet with rage, 'you're sorry for _what_? Leaving me and Mom in poverty while you're here having hundreds of people tending to your every need? Or, maybe you're sorry for going 10 years without so much as a phone call to see how I was doing?' tears were threatening to fall from his eyes.

Zain could only sit and watch his son spill out 10 years worth of anger and resentment towards him; even he could see how hurt his only son was, noticing the tears ready to fall from his eyes. He quickly rose to his feet and pulled the teenager into a tight hug, 'calm down, son. Calm down,' he started stroking his hair; it was almost as soft as it was when he was a tiny little baby. He could feel the tears seep through his shirt; feeling a tight grip on his jacket accompanied by desperate gasps for air between him choking on his own tears; and that made the guilt almost unbearable.

'_I missed you so much!'_


	5. A Father's Guilt

CHPT5

Micro-Ice retreated back to his room after the several hours spent with his father. He had to admit; it felt good to let out all of that anger, and, in the process, felt closer to his father. They had talked about how their lives had shaped since they had gone their separate ways. When he opened the door, he saw that D'Jok wasn't there, looking at his watch, he realized that he had an hour until the others arrived. He slumped on his bed, wondering what to do. He walked over to the holo-computer and pressed several buttons, within moments, the image of a teenage girl appeared on the screen.

'Hi, Shi,' he smiled as he saw her face light up at the sight of him.

'Micro-Ice! Where have you been?'

'I've been busy, I tell you, Aarch is going all out with this training.'

'You can be such a cry baby,' she playfully remarked, rolling her eyes.

With a playful glare, he decided to change the subject,' how's the school doing without me?'

'You're a football star and you're asking me about school?'

'What can I say? It feels weird not being in the uniform.'

'It's been 4 years,' she replied, 'we're leaving for good soon.'

'I promise I'll come see you graduate,' he said, winking,' as long as you come and see me in the final.'

'I've already booked a flight, so you'd better win.'

'Of course we are, especially with me as their star player,' he replied smiling, which quickly turned to a pout when he saw her snickering.

They talked for the remainder of the hour about different things; how they missed each other, predictions on the final, the support the young team had in Akillian. Before they knew it, D'Jok walked in with a large, pink case.

'Did you buy Mei a new case?' Micro-Ice turned to look at his friend who was cursing the bag as he struggled with the wheels.

'I had to; she bought so much we almost had to hire another shuttle to get it back to Akillian,' he huffed as he proceeded to kick the case in frustration.

'I don't think Mei would appreciate that, D'Jok.'

D'Jok turned to Micro-Ice and glared at him, he clearly had no patience left after being shop napped by his girlfriend. He noticed that someone on Micro-Ice's screen had let out a snort.

'Shiloh Magee, long time no see.'

'D'Jok Blackbones, haven't you driven my Micro-Ice crazy yet?'

'Nah, it's more the other way around,' the striker smirked as he ruffled Micro-Ice's hair.

'Well, Icy tells me that you've got a big dinner tonight, I'll call you tomorrow, Micro-Ice,' she waved as she signed out.

'Well, _Icy_, she hasn't changed a bit, has she?' the redhead exclaimed in a mocking tone before going to retrieve the clothes Mei had made him buy for tonight.

Micro-Ice shrugged his shoulders, 'she doesn't need to.'

'Where were you today anyway? We didn't see you around the city,' he questioned while taking out a green shirt.

'I stayed behind and talked to my dad,' he said almost too casually for D'Jok.

'You did what?' he really was surprised, his little brother figure had been trying his best to avoid him since they arrived in Cordale, and now he was telling him that he had spoken to him in such a calm tone? 'You don't seem too traumatised.'

Micro-Ice reached into his case and lifted out a light blue sweater vest, smiling at the confusion on his best friend's face, 'I'm not.'

'What did you even talk about?' his confusion was reaching a new high.

'I'll tell you later, get ready for dinner, airhead.'

'I'm not dropping this so easily, shorty,' he said, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Dinner had been a large banquet of Akillian cuisine; the team ate like they had never eaten before, even Aarch had never had such a meal! The evening was a success, everyone cleared their plates, they talked non-stop, even Ahito and Thran were far more lively than usual. No one had noticed that the most powerful political figure in the galaxy had exchanged smiles with the youngest of the team, not even D'Jok; who was made to wear a bib to protect his new ensemble, Mei's orders. Aarch insisted that they were going to train at 8:30; they thanked the President for such a lovely meal and retired to their rooms to change.

* * *

'Yes kids, that's good! Keep it up!'

They had been training for around 15 minutes and were slaughtering the Ryker clones, this, of course, pleased Aarch. He was so concentrated on training his protégés that he didn't notice the door open. Zain approached him and looked at the screen.

'They appear to be doing very well.'

Aarch wasn't expecting this and jumped out of his skin. He managed to compose himself almost immediately and turned to face the intruder.

'I'm sorry, Sir. You startled me.'

'I apologize, Aarch,' he said while turning his attention back to the screen,' so, what's going on in there?'

'It's a holo-trainer; it gives the team an accurate idea of what they're up against, right now they're playing the Ryker clones.'

'The Rykers?' Zain was concerned, he had heard of the Rykers, he had been to their planet on business, and he knew they weren't the friendliest of creatures. He wasn't too keen on having his little boy playing them, 'isn't that dangerous?'

'Oh, don't worry, Sir, they've beaten them before,' Aarch said in a reassuring tone, 'they may be a bit violent, but these kids can handle it.'

'I see,' he obviously still wasn't convinced, but decided to change the subject to the one which he wanted to talk about, 'Aarch, may I ask you something about Micro-Ice?'

'I'm so sorry for his behaviour, I didn't know he'd-'

Zain raised a hand to stop him in mid sentence, 'It's fine, Aarch, that's not what I mean,' he lowered his hand back on to the desk, 'who would be the closest to him on the team?'

Aarch let out a small laugh, 'that would be D'Jok, they've been best friends for years, he's number 9,' the larger man pointed to the screen to show him the striker in question.

'I see,' he muttered as he saw the redhead shoot the goal straight in to the back of the net using his head.

'D'Jok, that was terrific, keep it up!' Aarch exclaimed, he was thrilled that they were showing such incredible teamwork.

'He's very talented, Aarch,' the coach nodded in agreement. Before he left, there was one other thing he wanted to know, 'Tell me, Aarch, what do you know about Micro-Ice's father?'

'Well, to be honest, I don't know much, I've only ever met his mother, and I've never asked him, can I ask why you wanted to know?'He raised a questioning eyebrow at the odd behaviour of the man standing next to him.

Zain let out a sigh, 'I was just curious, that's all,' he pushed himself off of the table and walked towards the door, 'thank you for your time, I'll let you continue with your training,' he gave the coach a brief smile before exiting the room.

Aarch was baffled. Did he know something about his father? Maybe something happened to him? He didn't want to interfere in the boy's personal life, unless this affected his performance on the field, he had no right to. He shook these thoughts from his mind and turned his attention back to the screen to see Thran tackling the blue-haired Ryker.

In the hallway, Zain slumped against the wall. After the brief conversation with Aarch, he realized that he had missed out on so much of his son's life. He didn't support him in any of his matches, hell; he didn't even know he was a footballer! He had shown some interest in football when he was very young, but Zain thought nothing of it. He kept telling himself that it was a phase; he'd grow out of it. How could he have been so wrong? He hated himself at this moment. He hated himself for failing to see his son grow up. He hated himself for being so stubborn when it came to Mana's hopes for his future. He hated himself for putting a job before his own flesh and blood. That moment, he made a promise; he was going to make this up to Micro-Ice.

The training session ended an hour later, everything was going well within the team and they were confident for their upcoming match. The overall mood was a very positive one. They had beaten the Rykers before; they were frightening, yes. But the Snowkids were the champions of the galaxy. They believed it would be a fairly easy victory.

But they didn't know what the Rykers were planning.


	6. A Midfielder's Curiosity

CHPT6

The Snowkids had been in Cordale for 3 days, tomorrow night they would return to Genesis to prepare to battle the Rykers. It had been a hectic few days to say the least.

Micro-Ice was lying on his bed with his earphones in. The team had been given some leisure time due to Aarch's satisfaction with their training. D'Jok had gone to an arcade with Thran, so he had the room to himself. He removed the earphones and sat up after he heard a knock on the door.

'Come in, 'the door slid open to reveal Zain standing in the hallway, 'dad? What're you doing here?'

'I just came to see you,' he sat himself down on the bed beside his son, 'I wanted to talk to you about something.'

The teenager was puzzled, 'what is it?'

Zain had been preparing what to say all morning, but he just couldn't find the right words right now, with a deep sigh, he turned to see his son looking at him with confusion in his eyes; he had seen that expression before. He let his mind drift back in time to the day Mana-Ice took his son back to Akillian.

_Mana-Ice placed a large case on the floor beside the front door, she scanned the room to make sure she hadn't left anything behind. Micro-Ice was sitting on a crystal white chair beside the staircase, his little legs were dangling over the edge as he watched his mother work. He was very young, only 5 years of age. Small for his height, stubborn and always had something to say; he was definitely his father's son. He didn't understand fully what was going on, all he knew was that they were going to live on a snowy planet, one where he could build snowmen all the time, meet new friends and play football to his heart's content. But they were going without daddy._

'_Mommy, why do we have to go?' he asked her sadly as he fiddled with the ears of the rabbit he had been holding. He had named it Flumpy, his father had given it to him last night to keep him safe from the monsters under the bed while he wasn't there, Micro-Ice was afraid of the monsters, only his daddy was brave enough to fight them away. Now, he had Flumpy! He didn't look very threatening, but if his daddy said he'd fight off the monsters, he was like Micro-Ice; small but dangerous! He still wished his father could come with them, of course._

_Mana-Ice looked over at her son, she could see he was upset about this; he rarely got to see his father due to his busy lifestyle; but when he did, he cherished every moment. She didn't want to put him through this, especially at his young age; but what choice did she have? A marriage without love wasn't a marriage worth being in, as far as she was concerned. She looked at her little boy, his eyes were filled with sadness, how could she explain this to him at such a delicate age? 'Micro-Ice, daddy's too busy to come with us,' she knelt down in front of him so she was his height, 'he would come with us if he could,' she tried to comfort him by putting a reassuring hand on his pudgy little fingers._

_The little boy nodded as he clutched Flumpy closer to his chest, this gave him a sense of comfort. The toy reminded him of his daddy. He still didn't understand, he didn't know I he wanted to understand. He was so confused. He just wanted to stay with his daddy, was that too much to ask? Without warning, he wrapped his arms around his mother's neck, he always did that when she wasn't smiling. He didn't want to see her sad, and his hugs seemed to cheer her up. As suspected, his mother smiled and pulled her son into a tighter hug._

_Zain was watching the whole scene unfold before him. He was leaning on the door frame, unnoticed. He slowly pushed himself up and walked upstairs to his study, most likely to dwell on his failed marriage._

'Dad? Are you okay, dad?'

He was snapped out of his thoughts by his son's voice, he turned to look at him. Still confused.

'Yes, son, I'm fine.'

'You said you wanted to talk to me about something?'

The older man sighed, he still didn't know what to say, but he'd better say something.

'Micro-Ice, do you resent me for not being there?'

The teenager looked down and began to suck his teeth. Zain could see that he was thinking. He had a right to resent him, he resented himself. Several seconds passed and their eyes met.

'I did, but I know you're sorry,' the boy shrugged his shoulders, 'you can't change the past, but I'm glad I got to see you again.'

The older man was surprised, right now, the son he hadn't seen for about 10 years was acting like the adult here. He didn't have any words, Micro-Ice had summed up their feelings perfectly. Zain couldn't help but smile; he wasn't that chaotic, immature child anymore; he was growing in to a mature young adult. Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention; he slowly turned to see what it was.

'You still have Flumpy?' He was quite surprised to see that, he not only kept Flumpy for all of these years, but that he actually brought it with him to Cordale. He lifted the tattered teddy from the foot of the bed and looked at it carefully, almost like it was a precious family heirloom. He turned to see his son with a small smile on his face.

'Yeah, I just couldn't throw him away,' Zain saw his son take the rabbit in his grasp carefully and place it on his knee, he began to fidget with the ears, 'it was never the same after we left,' his tone now had a hint of sadness in it.

Zain looked down. He was aware that Mana-Ice had struggled to support their son financially, that was his fault. He didn't even think to send her money, she had made it clear that she wanted to be independent; she didn't want his money. He admired that she wanted to do this on her own, she was courageous. Zain could make decisions for the well-being of the galaxy, but couldn't make a marriage work. With a deep sigh, he turned to his son.

'I'm sorry about that, Micro-Ice,' he started to shake his head, 'I really am.'

Micro-Ice looked up from playing with the toy's ears and looked at his father, his expression was now unreadable. The older man prepared himself for another outburst when the teenager threw himself at him, wrapping his arms tightly around his father's back, burying his face in the expensive shirt.

'I know,' he was gripping on to his father tightly, almost like he was afraid that, if he let go, he would leave him for another 10 years. It didn't take Zain too long to realize his son's fear and wrap his arms protectively around him. He wasn't the emotional kind, but he caught himself trying to hold back tears while a lump formed in his throat.

He had just found his son, and he'd be damned if he lost him again.

* * *

Tia and Rocket had returned from their walk in Cordale Forest. They still had some time until they had to meet the team for dinner. Rocket had suggested watching a movie in his room; of course, Tia had other plans. Being the curious girl she was, she wanted to explore the president's home. Taking Rocket by the hand, she marched down the corridor leading to the West Wing; the only place they had been forbidden to enter. Rocket resisted, but the petite white haired girl was stronger than she looked, so he tried a different approach.

'Tia, we shouldn't be here, if Aarch catches us…'

'He won't catch us, Rocket, come on! There has to be something down here!'

Rocket knew there was no talking her out of it, so he reluctantly followed his girlfriend through the large door that led to the forbidden hallway.

* * *

Micro-Ice had returned to his relaxation state when his father was called to a meeting concerning budgets for the government of the Wamba's planet. The young striker was bored; he didn't even bother going to the arcade with D'Jok and the twins, he needed some time to himself, now that he had all the time he needed, he was stuck for ideas on what to do. There was one room in this place he was keen to see for the first time in 10 years. He pushed himself off the bed and headed towards the door

* * *

Rocket and Tia had been exploring the West Wing for about half an hour; so far they had come across a few bathrooms, what appeared to be a conference room and a couple of plain, white bedrooms. Rocket was feeling slightly on edge, he was jumpy with every corner they turned.

'Tia, I really think we should go now!' Rocket exclaimed as he clutched on to Tia's arm, looking around frantically to make sure they were alone for what felt like the millionth time.

'Come on, Rocket; look, there's only one room left!'

She was right; there was one door at the bottom of the corridor. Rocket felt a sense of relief, after this, they could go back to their rooms and get ready for dinner.

'Okay, Tia, but make it quick!'

Tia nodded and, armed with her camera, made her way in to the final room. She stopped in her tracks and lowered her camera. She looked at her boyfriend who stood behind her in the doorway.

'Does the president have a son?'

* * *

Micro-Ice had left his room and was making his way down the corridor. He wondered if the room he was going to had been redecorated in 10 years.

* * *

Tia looked from Rocket to the room before her; it was a bedroom. The walls were light blue, like the sheets on the bed which was pushed against the wall to their left. They faced a large window which covered a good portion of the wall; white curtains dressed the window in question. Tia noted that there was a toy chest at the foot of the bed, a closet built in to the wall to their left and a baby blue dressing table next to it. Curiosity got the better of her as she made her way towards the dressing table and started to rummage through the drawers. Rocket started to panic slightly and marched over to her.

'Are you crazy? You can't do that!' He tried to pull her away, but she quickly shrugged him off.

'Rocket, look at this room, there's obviously a kid living here!' she said excitedly as she opened the next drawer.

'You don't know that, Tia! Maybe it's just another spare room!'

'Don't be so naïve, Rocket!'

She continued to look through the drawer when she came across a rolled up poster. She started to straighten it to reveal the old Akillian team; with Aarch in the centre. Her confusion grew, both midfielders were stunned.

'Do you think the kid's from Akillian?' Tia questioned as she rolled the poster back up and place it back in the drawer.

'Maybe he died in the explosion,' Rocket sighed, it would certainly explain things, 'come on, Tia, we should go.'

Tia nodded; she knew this was disrespectful towards the assumed-dead son of the president. She began to close the drawer when something caught her eye, picking it up, she saw that it was a photograph. In it, she could make out a noticeably younger version of the president; raven hair, grey-blue eyes and visibly less stress in his face. Beside him stood a familiar looking woman; brown hair and hazel eyes. But the thing that really caught her attention was the small boy perched on the president's back; raven hair, grey-blue eyes, just like his father. He had a huge grin on his face. She knew that grin.

'Rocket, does that look like a certain someone to you?' she had to confirm that it wasn't him.

Rocket took the corner of the photograph in his hand, he was about to say something when a voice came from behind them.

'What are you doing in here?'

The couple froze in shock. They had been caught. Tia turned to face the one who had just spoken, hiding the photo behind her back. The midfielders breathed a sigh of relief when they saw who it was.

'Oh, Micro-Ice, it's you,' Rocket sighed as he clutched his chest. He could have sworn he just suffered a heart attack.

'I asked you what you were doing here,' the young striker said as he leaned against the door frame.

Before Tia could think of a good lie, Rocket answered.

'Well, Tia just _had_ to explore the whole building,' he exclaimed as he narrowed his eyes at the white-haired girl.

Micro-Ice nodded, rolling his eyes to show his amusement that Tia had managed to convince Rocket to go on another of her little adventures, 'I expected as much.'

Tia studied Micro-Ice's features carefully; there was definitely a resemblance. She had to know more, 'what are you doing down here anyway, Micro-Ice?'

He had to think fast. Really fast.

'I..Err.. Followed you guys down here.'

'Why?' Tia raised an eyebrow at her teammate.

'To… Make sure you didn't get into any trouble. You know how heroic I am, Tia,' he replied, grinning.

There's that grin. There was no doubt, but other than a photograph, what proof did she have? None. She would keep it to herself for now.

'Can we please leave now?' Rocket was still very uneasy about being in here, he was one to play by the rules unless it was absolutely necessary to break them.

Micro-Ice stood up straight and nodded, 'let's go.'

Tia tucked the photograph in to her back pocket as they left the room. Along the way, Rocket was talking to Micro-Ice about his predictions of tonight's Lightnings vs. Xenons match. Tia walked behind the two boys. She was sure that Micro-Ice was the child in the picture; then she remembered something. When she was little, the president came to her home to discuss something important with her parents.

_Tia hated dresses; the ones her mother picked out for her were so uncomfortable. For the millionth time that day she tried to pull the green fabric in every direction, trying to make herself more comfortable. Her mother let out a frustrated sigh._

'_Tia, will you please stop that! I will not have my daughter look like a commoner when the president walks through that door,' her mother scolded as she tried to fix the emerald-green ribbon that fastened the young girl's pigtail._

_Tia crossed her arms and pouted. Why did she have to wear this stupid thing anyway? She wanted to get this over and done with so she could go and play around with her football in the back garden. The 5 year old looked up as she heard the door open. Several men in dark suits walked in; among them was a man holding the hand of a young boy with the same hair and eyes as him. He approached Tia's parents, still holding the boy's hand._

'_Good afternoon, Sir, Madame,' he started in a polite tone._

'_Mr. President,' the Obia Moon ambassadors replied, bowing slightly, 'welcome.'_

_Tia looked to her left to see a pair of large grey-blue eyes looking at her. She noticed that he was around her height, if not a tiny bit smaller. She wasn't very tall for her age, so she assumed that he was younger than her. He appeared to be uneasy around all of these people. _

'_And who would this young lady be?'_

_Tia looked up to see a similar pair of eyes looking down at her. She was told to be polite, so smiled at him._

'_This is our daughter, Tia,' her father said as he turned to see who he was talking about._

'_It's nice to meet you, Tia,' he smiled as he leant down to shake her hand, 'your dress is very pretty.'_

'_Thank you, Sir,' Tia smiled as she shook back; she disagreed, but thought better than to argue with him. Her parents had dressed her up like a little doll for a reason. He must be important. _

_He smiled and stood up to face her parents, 'she's a very polite child.'_

_Tia caught her mother smiling approvingly at her; that was very rare._

'_Now, I believe we have some matters to discuss,' the president said as he clapped his hands to signal he was ready for business._

'_What do I do, daddy?' came a meek voice from behind him._

'_You can play with Tia, if you wish,' said the purple-haired woman as she smiled warmly at the young boy._

_A small smile appeared on his face, 'okay, Miss.'_

_Tia looked at him and realized that, for the first time in a while, she had a playmate. An excited smile lit up her little face. She took his hand and led him to her playroom. At first, he was confused with her excitement, he sat on the floor with wrapping his arms around his legs. Tia could tell he was shy, but she had someone to play with. She quickly sat on the floor in front of him, still smiling._

'_I'm Tia!' she held out her hand for him to shake._

_He hesitated before looking up at her. The young girl pulled her hand away as he stood up._

'_You're not one of those weirdos that tell you to sit still and be quiet, are you?' he asked hopefully._

_Tia shook her head. Just then a huge grin appeared on his face. She was confused, he was so shy a moment ago._

'_Great! So what do you want to do?' he asked as he practically jumped up and down in excitement._

'_How about football?' Tia suggested, forgetting about his unusual behaviour._

'_Okay!'_

_Tia grabbed a ball from behind her door and ran for her back door, the younger boy followed. It didn't take long to reach Tia's favourite part of her home. They began to kick the ball back and forth to each other before Tia proposed playing one-on-one._

'_You're really good!' it was clear that he was struggling._

'_Don't you play football at home?'_

_The boy stopped and looked at her, 'daddy doesn't like me playing football.'_

_Tia was surprised. How could you have fun if you weren't allowed to play football? 'How come?'_

'_He won't tell me,' he shrugged._

_Tia looked down, 'does this mean we have to stop playing?'_

'_What he doesn't know won't hurt him,' he grinned._

_They played for a few hours, though time flew for the young children. They laughed as they rolled in the grass. Tia's little green dress was becoming stained with dirt. The boy with the raven hair was destroying his brand new jumper. Tia's ribbons had fallen out long ago, leaving her hair to fall around her shoulders in a sea of white. Her new friend had ripped his jeans when he had fallen over. They weren't the neatly dressed, model children they were not long ago; their clothes were destroyed, their hair was a mess, their knees were scraped and scratched, they laughed through every fall, kick, high-five and pretend goal. They were being what they were raised not to be. They were being typical kids._

_Their happiness was cut short when their parents were finished with the meeting._

'_TIA!' The young girl turned around to see her mother storming towards her. Busted._

'_Mother, you told me to go and play with him.'_

'_And you decided to destroy your brand new dress in the process?' _

_Tia was about to answer when she saw her parent's guest looking at his son with disappoint; his arms were folded and he shook his head slowly. She suddenly realized why; he hated his son playing football._

'_Come here, son,' his voice frightened the young girl; he emphasized every syllable, he spoke slowly and sternly._

_The raven-haired child walked towards his father in his tattered clothes. He stopped when he was right beside her and looked sadly at her, 'It was nice meeting you, Tia,' his voice was back to that of a shy child. He continued to walk towards his father and took hold of his hand. They turned to walk away when the boy's father turned to look at Tia's mother._

'_I think I'll be coming to these meetings on my own, now.'_

_Then, they left. Tia was disappointed. The first person she could be carefree and play football with had been trailed away for having fun. During her parents' lectures about how important it was for her to make a good impression on the man who had left with fury in his eyes, she realized something._

_She didn't even know the boy's name._

Tia stopped in her tracks outside the room she shared with Mei. How didn't she realize before? The minute she met him, she knew there was something familiar about the teenager; but this? Now she was convinced.

* * *

At dinner, Tia watched her teammate carefully. He wasn't behaving any differently than he would at any other dinner. Now and again, he did catch her looking at him. She knew he was wary of her now, she was treading on dangerous territory.

But Tia was a curious girl.


	7. Confrontation

CHPT7

Dinner was over and the Snowkids had returned to their rooms. Filled with the best food money could buy, the young players sat down to watch the Lightnings battle the Xenons. D'Jok and Micro-Ice had invited the twins to watch the match in their room; they would watch matches together back on Akillian before Aarch arrived. The quartet missed the old days, but would watch these matches together when they could.

'Come on, Warren!' D'Jok shrieked excitedly as the large blue man stormed through the Xenon's defence.

The other 3 were rooting for the Lightnings, too. The victorious team would face them in the final if they beat the Rykers, and the Lightnings were easier to beat than the Xenons, that much they knew. They watched in horror as the Xenon's defence managed to swipe the ball from under the star's feet effortlessly. The fate of the Lightnings was sealed when they passed it to Luur, who simply smirked at the opposing team's goalkeeper from the half-way line.

'He wouldn't…' Thran said in disbelief, he couldn't take his eyes off the screen.

The large lizard brought his foot back and sent the ball flying towards the Lightning's goal post with incredible power. The four teenagers sat staring at the screen unable to move; the Lightning's goalkeeper was standing there, apparently still waiting to block the shot; but there was no longer anything to protect. The goalpost had been sent flying in to the stand.

'Holy Smog!' D'Jok exclaimed with wide eyes.

'I just know I'm going to have nightmares about this,' Ahito thought out loud. Thran couldn't blame him; he may be in the same situation as the unfortunate blue alien on the screen before him; blocking a shot like that would be next to impossible for his little brother. The score was now 1-0 to the Xenons. The Lightnings had to pull their act together if the Snowkids were to have any fingernails left by the end of the match. It didn't take long to replace the nets, the match was once again underway.

'You know, we could always just lose the match against the Rykers,' Micro-Ice suggested as Luur used the Heat to freeze the Lightning defenders on the spot.

D'Jok acted on instinct and threw a pillow at his fellow striker, 'we're the champions, Micro-Ice. We can't lose against the Rykers! It's not part of our-'

'Destiny,' the other three sighed in union. They had heard this speech far too many times. Micro-Ice had been on the receiving end for longer than anyone else; he had been his best friend from the age of five and shared a room with him. The rest of the team took pity on the youngest player.

D'Jok scowled at them before turning his attention back to the match. Another goal for the Xenons; Luur again.

The teenagers winced at the sight. Ahito announced that he couldn't watch it anymore and lay down on Micro-Ice's bed before drifting off in to a deep sleep.

Thran shook his head in disbelief, 'I don't know how you could sleep after seeing that, little brother.'

The game ended some time later with a 4-1 victory for the Xenons, the Lightnings put up a good fight, but were helpless to stop the powerful lizards. The young Akillians were disappointed; not only had their idol been defeated, but they may have to play these unbeatable dinosaurs in the near future.

'Well, little brother, I think it's about time you went to bed,' Thran chuckled as he poked his twin.

Ahito grumbled, 'I don't want to move.'

Micro-Ice and D'Jok rolled their eyes and let out a small chuckle.

Thran let out a sigh, he knew what this meant. The older twin turned his back to the goalkeeper, 'get on then.'

Ahito grinned as he jumped on to his brother's back, letting out a yawn, he wrapped his arms around Thran's neck and surrendered to sleep once again.

'Guys, can you get the door? I've got my hands full,' Thran stated as he grabbed Ahito's legs and hoisted his little brother further up his back to make it easier to carry him to their shared room.

D'Jok laughed as he made his way to the door. They hadn't changed a bit since their childhood on Akillian. D'Jok opened the door to let them out, when they left, D'Jok noticed Micro-Ice looking at him.

'What is it?'

'I think Tia knows,' Micro-Ice answered, biting his lip.

'Knows what?'

'D'Jok, she _knows_.'

'Micro-Ice, what does she- ooh!' D'Jok realized in mid-sentence what the younger striker was saying, 'are you sure?'

His little brother figure nodded, 'I found her and Rocket snooping around my old room.'

'That doesn't sound like Rocket,' D'Jok said, confused.

'Dude, she has that boy whipped,' Micro-Ice sighed.

D'Jok could only nod; that was Tia alright. He knew that his best friend didn't want anyone to know about his father yet; let alone the girl who went nowhere without a camera and couldn't keep her mouth shut.

'What am I going to do, D'Jok?' he asked as he rubbed his temples.

D'Jok thought for a moment, 'you could try throwing her off.'

'I think you're forgetting who we're talking about here, D'Jok. She's almost as stubborn as **you**.'

The redhead decided to let this one go, noticing that the boy was in distress. He made his way over to the chair he was sitting on and rested a hand on his shoulders, 'she'll back off eventually; just avoid her for the meantime.'

'What if that doesn't work?'

'Then we'll go to plan B.'

Micro-Ice raised his head, 'what's plan B?'

Before D'Jok could answer, the door opened to reveal the midfielder they were just discussing.

'Micro-Ice, can I talk to you… In private?'

* * *

In a different part of the building, a guilt-ridden father was arranging a flight to the largest stadium in the galaxy. He would depart with his trusted adviser, Benson, in two weeks to watch his son play for the first time. If someone had told him a few days ago that he would be attending a football match voluntarily to watch his son play, he never would have believed them; yet, here he was, making arrangements to cheer the son he had forbidden to play the sport at a young age play to qualify for the semi-finals. There was a knock on the door in front of his desk.

'Come in,' he called, looking up from his computer.

Benson walked in to the large office and bowed slightly, 'you requested my presence, sir?'

'Yes, yes. Take a seat,' Zain smiled as he gestured for his old friend to do so, 'I need to talk to you about something.'

'Yes, Sir?'

'Do you remember my son, Micro-Ice?'

'Of course, Sir. Did something happen to him?'

'No, no, he's absolutely fine, in fact, he's here with the Snowkids,' he smiled.

'That's the same Micro-Ice? I didn't know!' he lied, he'd gotten pretty good at it over the years.

Zain chuckled, 'how many parents do you know that would name their child Micro-Ice?'

'Forgive me, Sir. I thought it may have been a popular name on Akillian.'

'It's quite alright, Benson. I just wanted to thank you; if you didn't make me watch their last match, he wouldn't be here.'

Benson smiled, 'you're welcome, Sir. Is there anything else you need?'

'No, no. That will be all,' he smiled; he decided to tell his right hand man about the trip at a later date, 'you can go now.'

'Thank you sir,' he said as he nodded slightly before standing up and walking away. A sly smile appeared on his face when his back was turned to the president.

'Benson. Thank you again,' the smiled before returning to his work.

Benson stopped in his tracks, still smiling, 'believe me, it was my pleasure, Sir,' and with that, he left the room.

* * *

Micro-Ice looked at her and gulped.

'About what?'

'I'll tell you when we're alone,' she smiled, trying to look innocent, 'D'Jok, can you leave us for a few minutes?'

D'Jok looked at Micro-Ice from the corner of his eye and saw him nod slowly. He was ready for this. With a quick nod, he walked towards the door and turned around to see Tia walk towards his best friend, with a sigh, he walked out into the corridor.

When she saw the door close, Tia smiled and looked at the raven haired boy as he stood up.

'What is it, Tia?'

'I'm doing a documentary on our visit to Cordale,' she smiled.

'That's it?' the striker questioned, he expected much worse.

Tia pulled the infamous video camera from her pocket and pointed it at him, 'yes, that's all.'

Micro-Ice shrugged and sat on his bed and looked up to face her, 'so, why couldn't D'Jok stay?'

'Well, let's just say that he can't answer these questions.'

_Uh oh._

'Why's that?' he asked as she moved the camera closer in to his face.

'I think you know.'

Micro-Ice swallowed, 'actually, Tia, I don't.'

'You know, you're not the only one I've seen with grey-blue eyes while we've been here.'

'Other people can have grey-blue eyes, you know,' he tried. _What a pathetic attempt_, he thought.

'Do you know what colour of hair the President had before it turned white, Micro-Ice?' she was moving closer.

'Erm… Black, I think?'

'Mhm, that's right. Like yours.'

'Plenty of people have-' he stopped speaking when he saw her reach in to her pocket with her free hand, 'what are you-'

'Take a good look at this photo, Micro-Ice,' she said as she handed it to him.

His eyes widened as he saw the image,'Wh-where did you get this?'

'Why? Do you recognise it?'

'N-No?' he knew she was suspicious, but this?

'Not even that little boy right there?' she questioned, pointing to the one in question, she noticed that her teammate's lip was quivering. She felt guilty, but had to keep pushing, 'he looks pretty familiar to me, Micro-Ice.'

'N-not to me.'

_Don't give in, Micro-Ice._

'Are you sure?' She edged closer.

'Positive.'

Don't look at her.

'Micro-Ice, come on.'

'Stop, Tia. Please!'

She wanted to stop, but something inside her wouldn't let that happen.

'Micro-Ice, just say it!'

'Stop!'

'I will when you say it!'

'TIA, STOP!' he exploded as he stood up and took her camera from her. He took a moment to calm down as he looked at the floor before turning his head to look at her slowly; a surprised expression was on her face, 'it's none of your business,' he said slowly before handing her camera back to her. Tia clutched it to her chest and stared at him. 'Please, just drop it.'

He had an expression that let Tia know that she had hurt him, without another word, she left the room with her head down, ashamed of herself. She was a good person, why did she push him so hard? She turned to see D'Jok leaning against the opposite wall in the corridor. Tia opened her mouth to explain herself, but stopped when he started to shake his head with fury written all over his face. She just stood there as he pushed past her and stormed in to the room and slammed the door in her face. She knew how angry he could get when it came to Micro-Ice.

* * *

Benson retired to his room and locked the door. He had all of the information he needed; Zain's precious son was here in Cordale; the president knew about his son, and knowing him so well, Benson was sure he'd go to the end of the galaxy to protect the boy. _Excellent_.

Pressing several buttons on his watch, he had reached contact with his accomplice.

'Everything is in place.'

The contact smiled, 'very good work, Benson. Leave the rest to us.'

Benson grinned. Soon, he would have control over the most powerful man in the galaxy, he had dreamed of this for years. _Oh, Zain. I almost pity you. __**Almost**__._

* * *

**Alright, so I had some issues with this chapter when I was saving it. I would have liked it to turn out differently, but clearly my computer doesn't think so *sigh*. Well, on to the next chapter :)**


	8. True Friendship

CHPT8

D'Jok had just stormed through the door. _How dare she! _His face was the same colour as his hair; he was fuming. Ready to rant about the midfielder, he saw Micro-Ice standing in the middle of the room, looking at the floor.

'Micro-Ice?' he edged closer to his best friend. His expression was unreadable, 'Micro-Ice?' he repeated. He spoke in a gentle tone, not wanting to anger him.

The younger striker looked up at D'Jok, he looked like a vulnerable child at this moment; it was clear that he didn't know what to think. The younger of the two slowly walked over to the bed and picked up the photograph before handing it to D'Jok.

'She found this in my old room,' he said slowly, not even looking at his friend.

D'Jok looked at the photo. Yep, that's definitely Micro-Ice. The redhead felt himself smile; he hadn't grown out of that huge smile, and he probably never would. His smile faded as he saw his little brother biting his lip.

'Micro-Ice, are you okay?' he asked in a sympathetic tone, he hated seeing him like this.

'I don't know,' he shrugged, 'I guess, it's just… I never imagined anyone knowing about my dad other than you.'

'Well, it would have come out eventually,' D'Jok tried.

Micro-Ice sighed, 'I'm over-reacting, aren't I?'

'So one other person knows about your dad, what's the worst that could happen?'

* * *

Benson was strolling down the corridor of the East Wing in deep thought. _This plan would bring Zain to his knees. He was a family man; there was no doubt in Benson's mind that he would obey his accomplice's demands. Especially if that little brat was involved. _The traitor stopped in his tracks and scanned the wall before him; portraits of former presidents lined it. He smirked at the portrait furthest to the right. This man had trusted him with a lot; finances, secret documents, revising laws-so much.

_What a fool._

'What are you looking at, Benson?'

The traitor turned his head to see the man in the portrait walking towards him, 'Sir, I was just looking at the portraits. You've made huge progress, you know.'

Zain nodded, 'It wouldn't have been needed if it weren't for him,' he said bitterly, pointing to a face several portraits down.

'President Guerra, Sir?'

'Yes, if it weren't for his invasion on the Flux Society a hundred years ago, I wouldn't have had to sacrifice a life with my son to restore peace to the galaxy,' he sighed. His work had taken his toll on the family; he rarely got to see his son, missing his first steps in the process, the stress of his job kept him from his wife, eventually leading to an ugly divorce; fixing this man's mistake ruined his life. But now, there was peace in the galaxy thanks to the flux laws he passed just before the birth of his son, he had a second chance with Micro-Ice and everything seemed right again.

Benson pretended to agree; he was a supporter of Guerra's work; to control, you needed to strike fear in to the hearts of those under your reign. What fun is it otherwise?

_The fun was yet to come._

* * *

D'Jok had been listening to Micro-Ice spill out his worries about Tia knowing his _little_ secret. Well, it started out that way; somehow it had turned in to D'Jok ranting about Mei spending his hard-earned cash on clothes he was certain she already owned.

'A zip? I mean, what the hell is that? It's the same jacket, it was the same jacket when you bought the one with the little bow on the pocket, it was the same jacket when you bought the one without the hood, it was the same jacket when you bought it with the extra button; 50 extra credits for a damn button! I mean-' he stopped talking when he realized his roommate had fallen asleep on the bed, curled up into a ball. D'Jok was about to wake him up to continue with his rant, then he realized that he probably needed the rest. He grabbed a blanket from the closet and gently placed it on the younger teenager. He looked so peaceful. D'Jok smiled at the calm expression on his best friend's face as he started to walk out of the room to find someone else to complain to. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the white-haired man in the doorway.

'Hello, D'Jok, may I come in?'

'I…err…sure?'

'It's alright D'Jok,' he said as he walked in to the room, 'I know Micro-Ice told you about me,' he continued in a reassuring tone.

D'Jok nodded, 'well, he's asleep at the minute,' the redhead stated as he pointed to the sleeping lump in the bed behind the older man.

Zain turned around, and, sure enough, there his son was, sound asleep. He took Flumpy from the bottom of the bed and placed it beside his son. A small smile appeared on his face before he turned back to D'Jok.

'Actually, I came to speak to you.'

'Me?'

'Yes,' he sat on the edge of the bed his son was sleeping in, 'I want you to tell me a bit about my boy.'

'Oh, boy. You're going to be here all night,' the striker laughed as he pulled the chair over so he was facing the father of his best friend.

They talked about Micro-Ice for what seemed like hours; his likes, dislikes, friendships, accomplishments; everything they could fit in before the young lad started to get tired. He bid the president a good night before closing the door for the final time that night; that lengthy discussion brought back some fond memories, he smiled at one particular memory as he slipped under the covers and closed his eyes.

The day he met Micro-Ice.

* * *

_A 6-year-old D'Jok shuffled through the snow as he approached the house Maya had told him to go to. One of her old friends had just moved here with her son and he had been told to go and 'make a new friend'. He wasn't completely on board with the idea; but he might be better company than that weird afro-jack, Mark, down the road. The young boy reluctantly knocked on the door._

'_Come in; it's open!'_

_D'Jok heard the woman's voice and entered the small house; the living room was littered with boxes and packing peanuts. _

'_You must be D'Jok.'_

_Green eyes looked up to meet a pair of brown ones. A woman with chestnut coloured hair smiled down at him. He nodded._

'_Maya's told me so much about you,' she smiled, 'my name's Mana-Ice,' she continued as she lowered her hand for the child to shake._

_D'Jok took the hand and slowly shook it, before he could say anything else; a smaller boy came running in to the room._

'_Mommy, mommy!'_

_The woman turned around to see her son trapped in his school jumper running around in a state of panic before running face-first in to one of the boxes._

'_Mommy! I'm stuck!' the little boy shrieked as he kicked his legs around madly._

_Mana-Ice closed her eyes and shook her head slowly clearly amused at the sight before making her way over to the box and raising the little boy up._

'_It's okay, Micro-Ice,' she laughed while seizing the fabric and pulling it over the small child's head, 'better?'_

_The youngster blinked a few times before turning to his mother and nodding madly._

'_What a strange name,' D'Jok thought to himself as Mana-Ice placed her son on the ground while fixing his hair._

_Micro-Ice looked over at the other boy; he was wearing the same clothes as him, but had bright red hair and deep green eyes. His grey-blue eyes looked down, as if sceptical of his own clothes; he turned to his mother with wide eyes._

'_Mommy, why is he wearing my clothes?'_

'_It's called a uniform, dummy,' the redhead started, 'we all have to wear them in Akillian Primary.'_

'_But how do you know who's who?' the dark-haired boy questioned._

_The older child looked at him in disbelief before hitting his head repeatedly off the wall. He had to be pulled away from it by Mana-Ice before he did any damage._

'_You'll have to forgive him, D'Jok. He's not used to this,' she murmured, obviously used to her son's stupidity._

_D'Jok nodded as he held his head; it wasn't that painful, but truth be told, he did feel a bit dizzy. He peeped over to see the younger boy pop a toy rabbit on the sofa._

'_Mommy says you can't come, Flumpy, so stay here and don't make a mess!' he dictated to the rabbit as he wagged his finger, 'can I trust you? Good,' he beamed as he hugged it tightly before returning the plushie to its original position._

'_That's Flumpy,' Mana-Ice whispered in the red head's ear, 'he's very important to my wee man; you'll probably be seeing that rabbit quite a lot,' she chuckled before reaching for her keys, 'you boys ready to go?'_

_D'Jok nodded as he turned towards the door only to feel a small hand around his own; he turned around slowly to see a pair of large eyes looking up at him._

'_Will you protect me from the bullies?' the youngest asked timidly; his mother had told him about nasty children before D'Jok came, how they like to pick on those who are smaller than them, and Micro-Ice was a pretty tiny kid._

_D'Jok smiled; he felt like a big brother, he now had someone to protect, to play with, and to laugh with. He had a feeling that this would blossom in to a beautiful friendship. Then he nodded and walked hand-in-hand with his new friend towards the school gates._

* * *

The striker awoke the next day to see Micro-Ice firing socks in to his case; he looked panicked.

'Micro-Ice, what's your problem?' he grumbled, still trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

'Packing, what does it look like?' he chuckled.

'I see you're feeling better,' the redhead replied, sitting up.

'All I needed was a good sleep; she'll back off eventually,' he shrugged, 'oh, before I forget, Mei told me to tell you that she wanted you to help her pack when you woke up,' he smirked.

D'Jok sighed in frustration, 'great, the one thing I needed first thing when I woke up was to fold up sweaters _oh so carefully _for her to bring back to Akillian,' he groaned as he slowly rose from his bed and made his way to his girlfriend's room, not even changing out of his pyjamas.

Micro-Ice could only laugh as he folded a shirt and placed it in his case.

'_Hasn't changed a bit.'_

* * *

**Yeah, chapter's a bit all over the place, but I really wanted to get it out before tomorrow, so this will do, I suppose. :)**_  
_


	9. The Warning

CHPT9

Micro-Ice was still packing; he had been for around forty five minutes. He was going to see his father in 15 minutes; apparently he had something to tell him. The teenager didn't know what he meant by that, all he knew was he had to get a move on if he wanted to have everything packed in time. He frantically threw the remainder of his clothes in to the case, not caring if they were wrinkled, he'd have D'Jado sort them out when they got back to Genesis. Everything was packed, poorly, but still packed. The young striker had just finished zipping up the bag when D'Jok came staggering in to the room, he looked like he had been thrown in to the tiger's cage at Genesis Zoo. The younger of the two raised an eyebrow.

'What happened to you?'

The redhead was still trying to catch his breath when he went to sit on his bed.

'Mei happened. She didn't need help packing at all.'

'I know,' the shorter one sniggered, 'she wanted to make up for all the shop-napping over the past few days.'

His best friend nodded, 'I think I'll be taking her shopping more often.'

Micro-Ice rolled his eyes and handed him a bottle of water, obviously the dehydration was getting to him.

'Well, I'll see you later,' the raven-haired teenager announced as he left the room.

The other was still in a state of disbelief, not even able to ask where his little brother was going, he just waved.

* * *

Benson was making his way to the grand conference room. Zain had asked him to step in for a few hours so he could spend time with his son before he left. Benson didn't mind; it was just a meeting to discuss new laws being passed in Xzion. It would give him the opportunity to experience a conference without Zain giving all of the orders and being the most powerful man there. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned to see that little twerp making his way to Zain's study. _Now's my chance_.

'Master Micro-Ice!'

The teenager turned to see his father's advisor walking towards him with a large smile on his face.

'Your father wanted me to ask you something.'

Micro-Ice looked puzzled, 'what is it?'

Benson burrowed in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

'He wanted me to ask you to write down the name of the hotel you'll be staying at in Genesis,' he stated as he handed the teenager the paper and pen.

'But, I'm going to see him now, why can't I just tell him myself?' he questioned.

'Security reasons,' Benson simply said.

Micro-Ice didn't understand the way things worked around here regarding these sort of things, but he felt it was a bit strange. Still, he scribbled down the name and contact details of the hotel and handed it back to Benson, who tucked it back in to his pocket.

'Thank you, now I believe you'd like to be getting back to your father,' he said smiling as the teenager walked off. Making sure no one was around; he pressed a button on his holo-watch.

'Do you have the information?'

'Yes, they're staying in The Genesis Palace Hotel; I'll patch you through the rest when I'm alone.'

'Excellent work; if we need your assistance again, we'll be in touch.'

* * *

Micro-Ice had just entered his father's study and was sitting on the large sofa waiting for him to arrive. As he twiddled his thumbs, he saw the door open. Zain strode in with a very serious look on his face; he sat down facing his son without uttering a word.

'Err, dad? Are you alright?'

Zain rubbed his temples as he looked at the boy before him.

'I need you to listen to me very carefully son,' this was his way of making sure that Micro-Ice listened to him. As the teenager nodded, he continued.

'We fear that there may be an uprising being planned by those who supported the old ideas.'

'Old ideas?'

'The ideas that war was the answer to everything, that to rule you needed to terrorise the lives of many, that those who didn't agree with the government's law were dangerous.'

His son was beyond confused now, 'but, why would they bother trying to overthrow you when the Flux Wars have been over for over a decade?'

'They're set in their ways, Micro-Ice. They could be a very powerful enemy if they had a mole from the inside.'

'Can't you stop them?'

'We have a lead on the organization who we think is leading the operation, we'll be able to stop this before it really begins, even if it takes us up to two months.'

'So, if you can avoid it, why are you telling me this?'

Zain looked at his son; he couldn't bear telling him this, but he needed to be warned.

'We fear you might be a target.'

* * *

The Snowkids were in the lobby waiting for their holo-cab to take them to the astroport. Amongst the chatter of his teammates, Micro-Ice sat on his suitcase and cast his mind back to what his father had told him.

'_We fear you might be a target.'_

_You might be a target._

_You. A target._

_What did he mean by that? Eugh, I knew coming here was a bad idea. A mole from the inside? Tia? Come on, Micro-Ice, she's nosy, but she'd never do that. Would she? _

He looked up to see Tia chattering excitedly to Rocket about some footage she got from Cordale Forest, the poor boy was dying of boredom. He lifted himself from his suitcase and made his way over to Tia, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

'Tia, can I talk to you for a minute?'

The midfielder nodded and followed him to an isolated spot behind a pillar.

'Tia, about that picture you found-'

'Micro-Ice, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, and it's just-'

Micro-Ice stopped her in mid-sentence with a slight chuckle, 'it's alright, Tia, you can be so dramatic.'

A smile ignited her face, 'you're not upset?'

'Nah, you just caught me on a bad night,' he smiled as he leaned against the pillar, 'but, I need to know something.'

'What is it?'

'Did you tell anyone else about the picture?'

'No, only Rocket knows. Micro-Ice, I would never-'

'Hey, hey; it's alright,' he smiled. He knew he could trust her to keep a secret; she was a loud-mouth, but she was trustworthy. He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out the photo, handing it to Tia, 'you're right, I do have his eyes.'

Tia was stunned; she was so sure already, but the fact that he had told her when he was going to great lengths to keep it secret?

'Micro-Ice, why didn't you tell us?'

He shrugged, 'you never asked.'

He was right, she had been questioning him about his hair, his eyes, the photograph; but she hadn't asked him directly.

'Micro-Ice, are you President Zain's son?'

The striker nodded, 'was that so hard?'

Tia punched him lightly before handing the photo back to him.

'Keep it, Tia. I've got one back on Akillian,' he smiled before pushing it back to her, 'you obviously like it,' he laughed.

Tia smiled and put the photo back in her pocket; it would be a great addition to her photo collection.

'But, if you tell anyone about my father, I'll have the Pirates erase your memory,' he laughed before they made their way back to the group.

Two teammates now knew about his father; he could trust D'Jok with his life, and Tia was a good friend, they had grown close over the years, he could trust her. If he ran in to trouble with this uprising business, he could always talk to D'Jok or Tia; even his father if he decided to come to Genesis, after all, he knew where they would be staying, he knew how to contact the hotel, Benson would make sure he got the details.

_Benson really was an efficient adviser. _


	10. Family

CHPT10

The Snowkids had been in Genesis for about a week; so far nothing to do with the uprising had popped up. Everything was normal; they had been training hard, been to several press conferences and signed various jerseys, pictures, D'Jok had even signed a fan girl's arm so she could go and get it tattooed on. They were all at the astroport waiting to greet their loved ones. The announcement confirmed that the flight from Akillian had landed, and, just minutes later, the passengers started to emerge.

'_Maya!'_

'_Mei, my darling!'_

'_Thran, Ahito!'_

'_Tia, my sweetheart!'_

'_Stella!'_

'_Rocket!'_

Everyone greeted their loved ones with hugs and excited chatter. Artegor had also decided to come, after quitting the coaching job of the Shadows, he would be Aarch's assistant coach. Micro-Ice looked up to see his mother leaving the shuttle.

'Mom!' he shrieked as he jumped in to her open arms.

She returned the hug, 'I've missed you, son,' she whispered gently, tightening the hug. Then gestured behind her.

'Hey, Icy. Don't I get a hug?'

Micro-Ice looked behind his mother to see a pair of golden eyes looking mischievously at him.

'Shi!'

The teenage girl ran into his arms and buried her face in his coat.

'I thought you weren't coming 'til the final?'

She pulled away so she was facing him, 'who said you were getting to the final?'

'Ahem, last year we won the GFC, or did you forget?'

'How could I forget, you don't shut up about it,' she joked.

'Well, let's see you win it and keep quiet,' he chuckled.

She responded with a light punch before he pulled her on to his back.

'Where's luggage?' she yelled over the whole astroport, making all of the parents turn to stare.

Micro-Ice looked up at the girl resting on his shoulders and smiled; she would help to take his mind off this whole uprising business.

* * *

Zain and Benson were sitting in the Presidential Shuttle drinking champagne. They were on their way to Genesis Stadium; Mana-Ice had just told Zain they had arrived at the astroport and no attacks had been launched on their son. The powerful man breathed a sigh of relief.

'Is everything okay, Sir?'

'It's this uprising, Benson. What if they do try to hurt Micro-Ice?' he questioned his trusted advisor as he gazed out of the porthole.

Benson sneered, 'he's not a child anymore, Zain. I'm sure he can look after himself.'

'He's still in danger, Benson,' he sighed.

'If you're that worried about the boy, I have an idea concerning _security_ for him.'

* * *

The young players were settling their families in to the hotel and helping them unpack. Aarch decided to help Artegor unpack his priceless sunglasses collection, but was shouted at for getting finger prints all over the lenses; he was thrown out of the room after around 10 minutes. D'Jok was helping Maya set up her crystal ball; she would never go too far without it. Thran was helping his mother unpack while Ahito and their father decided that having a nap was helping. Mei's father was doing all the work as her mother lectured her about new modelling contracts, all the while shouting at her husband for not being careful enough with the towels. Rocket was helping his father unload his Akillian Orchids; apparently no one else on Akillian could be trusted to care for the flowers properly, so instead Norata decided to book adjoining rooms to care for his plants. Tia stood in horror as Stella showed her the dresses her parents had sent; pink, purple, green, knee-length, strapless, halter dresses; it was worse than being shop-napped by Mei. Micro-Ice and Shiloh had helped Mana-Ice unpack her 'Snowkids Support Kit' which consisted of posters, banners and flags for the parents to hold during the matches. There were also disposable cups, napkins, plates and utensils with the Snowkids' logo on them for the after-party; it freaked the team out a bit, but they appreciated the support.

Once everyone was settled in, the parents were invited to watch the young team train. As they disappeared in to the holo-trainer, Aarch gave the order for Clamp to put in the Rykers. Mei's mother went in to a huff when her daughter took her position on defence.

The Snowkids had commenced playing and were doing quite well, until Rocket lost the ball; that's when the trouble started. Shekmut's clone stormed through the defence and took the shot, only to have it saved by Ahito.

'Eye on the ball, Mei!' Aarch shouted to the screen.

'She would do much better in attack!' Mei's mother retaliated.

'Calm down, dear,' Mei's father pleaded.

'Are you blind? She's far too talented for defence!'

'What's that supposed to mean?' The twins' mother piped up, 'defence is just as important as any other position!'

Artegor snorted, 'everyone knows that offence is the most important position, without them, who would score?'

'My son on midfield, that's who!' Norata hit back, 'without him; this team would be nothing!'

'Without my Tia, there'd be no team!'

'I think you're forgetting how my Micro-Ice brought this team to Genesis!' Mana-Ice stated as she stood up.

'Oh, please! My Mei's the best player on that team, much better than the _current_ strikers!' Mei's mother bellowed.

'I predict a black eye in your future,' Maya barked.

Despite Aarch's best efforts, the group would not stop bickering; with a sigh he turned his attention to the screen.

'Snowkids get out of the holo-trainer and sort out your parents.'

The team sighed in union; the parents usually got along well with each other, but when it came to the run-up to an important match, it wasn't pretty. The holo-trainer vanished and the young players sprung in to action; it had gotten physical. Mei's mother was being held back by her husband so she didn't attack Thran and Ahito's mother who was hurling insults at her in Chinese, Norata and Artegor had begun scratching each other's faces and screaming how their former positions were more important than the others, Maya and Mana-Ice were being pulled away from Stella by Shiloh and Dame Simbai, they had been pulling each other's hair out for the simple reason that there was no one else to brawl with.

'Parents! Stop!'Rocket shrieked as he threw himself between Norata and Artegor.

Mei ran to assist her father in restraining her mother, Micro-Ice and D'Jok rushed to help Dame Simbai and Shiloh while Tia tried to calm her nanny down, and Thran was busy trying to shut his mother's mouth.

From a distance, two pairs of eyes were watching the scene unfold before them.

'Do you think we should interfere, Sonny?'

'Let them sort out their differences, Corso,' the Pirate chief stated while lowering the binoculars, 'we're not here to fight, we're not here to fight.'

'Can I ask why we are here, Sonny?'

'Technoid's been pretty quiet lately, Corso. I just wanted to make sure D'Jok's safe.'

'Why do you think they've been so quiet?'

'There hasn't been a raid on Pirate territory for a while now; they're obviously planning something, Corso.'

* * *

The Snowkids had accompanied their parents back to their rooms, fuming that they had to miss practice because their parents were behaving like children. Rocket had been lecturing Norata on the importance of training for an hour; the rest of the team pitied the former defender.

Micro-Ice was walking back from the medical room; he had sustained a black eye from restraining his mother in the holo-training room. As he walked along the corridor, mumbling to himself about how ridiculous the situation was, he bumped in to someone going the opposite direction.

'Benson? What are you doing here?'

'Master Micro-Ice, your father assigned me to keep an eye on you.'


	11. Suspicions

CHPT11

'Keep an eye on me?' Micro-Ice questioned, 'doesn't he know I'm not 5 anymore?'

'I'm just following orders,' the adviser smiled, 'besides; he's very worried about you.'

'Thanks, Benson, but I'm okay, really. I've got a whole team looking after me,' he reassured the older man as he walked away.

_Oh no you don't you little runt._

Benson reached out and grabbed the boy's arm.

'Master Micro-Ice, you're being unreasonable! Your father is just showing concern for you, whether you like it or not; I'll be keeping a watchful eye on you!'

The teenager's eyes widened.

'What's gotten in to you?' he questioned as he tried to yank his arm free.

'I'm just following orders and I will not be questioned by you,' he whispered in a violent tone as he tightened his grip, 'now, do I make myself clear?'

Micro-Ice nodded as Benson let go of his arm.

'Good,' the adviser spat as he shoved past the teenager and walked down the hallway.

'Well, that was odd,' the striker thought as he continued on his way.

* * *

Micro-Ice entered his room to see D'Jok nursing a busted lip.

'You too, huh?' the younger roommate laughed as he turned on the holo-tv.

'Yep, that girl has one hell of a right hook,' the redhead groaned, 'where is Shiloh anyway?'

'She's still in the medical room; Mei's flying boot got her on the nose.'

'Ouch,' D'Jok winced, 'is she okay?'

'She's fine, it's just badly bruised.'

'You've got to admit, that was one heck of a brawl,' the older striker laughed as he lay on his bed and watched the TV.

'It sure was, _Galactic Brawls 3_'s got nothing on our parents,' the raven-haired teenager laughed as he sat up, 'especially your future mother-in-law.'

'No one said me and Mei were getting married.'

'Come on, you're too scared of that woman not to marry her.'

D'Jok shot up and pointed a finger at his little brother figure, 'I am **not** afraid of her!'

Micro-Ice smirked at him, 'you don't have to lie to me D'Jok, she scares the flux out of me too.'

'Micro-Ice, everything scares the flux out of you.'

The little striker glared at him; he wanted to change the subject to something on a more serious note.

'D'Jok, can I talk to you about something?'

'What is it?'

'You know how not everyone in the galaxy supports my dad?'

D'Jok nodded.

'Well, he called me in to his office and told me that there might be a _small_ problem.'

'And what might that _small _problem be?'

'That there's a possibility that somewhere out there, some people want to start a new war.'

'You call that a _small_ problem?' cried the redhead.

'Oh, it gets better,' Micro-Ice continued, 'there's also a chance that they want to use me to get to my father,' emphasized the young player.

D'Jok allowed his jaw to hit the floor, his green eyes widened in shock. _Someone had threatened to hurt Micro-Ice?_

'Are you sure?'

Micro-Ice shrugged, 'it's only a theory, I'm not sure I believe it myself.'

* * *

In another building on Genesis, two wanted men were raiding a Technoid office, hoping to discover something that would give them clues as to what the company was planning. So far, nothing.

'Sonny, there's nothing here,' Corso stated as he burrowed through yet another drawer.

'Keep looking, Corso. I'm sure they're planning something big,' the larger man replied as he looked through some files on a computer.

The men continued to search until Sonny was sure he had found something.

'Corso, come here.'

When Corso looked at the screen, he narrowed his eyes.

'They're planning a new war, Corso,' Sonny exclaimed, hazel eyes full of fury, 'and they're going to blackmail the president of the galaxy to do it.'

'But, how are they going to blackmail him?'

'It doesn't say here,' the leader leant back on his chair, 'if they don't even put it in their top-secret files, it's obviously something huge.'

It was just then that they heard footsteps approaching the office. In one quick motion, Sonny grabbed the computer and hopped back in to the air vent with his right-hand man. They'd have Bennett work his magic on the machine and give them a better insight in to the situation.

* * *

It had been a long day for the Snowkids; the young players were exhausted to say the least. D'Jok and Micro-Ice had been asleep for several hours when a hooded figure climbed stealthily through the window, careful not to be seen.

D'Jok opened his eyes slowly as he felt a shadow loom over him; he still hadn't gotten used to these unexpected visits. D'Jok shot up and let out a loud gasp before being shushed by the figure. They remained still when Micro-Ice stirred in his sleep, it didn't take long for the boy to roll over and fall in to his slumber once again. The red head looked up to see the figure remove his hood, revealing his hazel eyes.

'Dad!' D'Jok whispered enthusiastically before pulling his father in to a hug, 'what are you doing here?'

'A man can't drop in to visit his son?' Sonny smirked as he broke the hug, 'what happened to your lip?'

The teenager touched his lip before allowing it to curve in to a smile, 'soccer moms.'

Sonny laughed lightly; he had seen those parents in action, when the first shoe went flying across the room, he and Corso had made a judgement call and got out of there. It wasn't pretty.

'On a serious note, D'Jok, I need to speak to you,' the Pirate chief's tone of voice changed pretty dramatically.

'What is it?' D'Jok demanded he was pretty concerned; he always was when it came to his father.

'We fear Technoid may be up to something,' Sonny continued, deliberately not mentioning the possible war being planned, he didn't want to worry his son too much, 'so you can't let your guard down, understand?'

D'Jok nodded; Technoid knew about his parents, his team knew about his parents, many people knew that his father was the pirate chief. He'd be a pretty good way to lead his father in to Technoid's grasp.

Sonny smiled, knowing that his son would do everything in his power not to be captured; he'd have Artie and Bennett watch over him when they could.

'I'm glad to hear it D'Jok,' Sonny said, he looked down to see that his holo-watch was beeping madly, signalling he had to get back to the Pirates, 'I have to go now, son. Good luck in your upcoming match.'

'Thanks, dad,' D'Jok smiled as he pulled his father in to a good-bye hug.

Without wasting any more time, Sonny re-adjusted his hood and slipped out of the window.

* * *

Benson lay in bed thinking about the plans. He didn't know where or when they were to strike, but they would be contacting him soon to notify him of their intentions. The sooner the better.

Zain had left his son in the care of the man who had been plotting to get rid of him, because he trusted him._ Oh, Zain, you really are so naïve._

* * *

**Alright, for future reference, I will never be updating this quickly ever again. But I'll make it as quick as I can :)**_  
_


	12. The Grab

CHPT12

The Pirates had been working non-stop to try and figure out how Technoid were planning to threaten the president; so far they had come up with nothing. It frustrated their leader to be in the dark when it came to Technoid's plans. He hadn't been able to reach the president yet; he needed to warn him, that is, if he didn't already know; at the very least, the Pirates needed information on this matter. If anyone knew how they would threaten him; it was the president.

It was the day of the match between the Snowkids and the Rykers; Sonny was sure that he would be watching the match in the bleachers, call it a Pirate's instinct. He had ordered Artie and Bennett to hack in to all Technoid phone lines; including those of the employees; they would notify him immediately if something important came up. Pirates from all sector areas were scattered across the bleachers in small groups ready to spring in to action if Technoid tried anything; Sonny knew from experience that matches were popular places for the company to strike. Corso would accompany Sonny; he wouldn't dare go on a potentially dangerous mission alone. The Pirate leader had pulled out all of the stops. He was determined to stop Technoid, whatever the cost.

* * *

The young players had just finished adjusting their jerseys when Aarch entered the locker room.

'Snowkids, I don't need to tell you how important this match is. If we win this, we advance to the finals. You are more than capable of winning this match; you're more than capable of winning the cup! Get out there and play your hearts out, I have complete confidence in you!'

The Snowkids enthusiastically carried out their pre-match ritual; they placed their hands on top of each other's and threw them up in to the air and roared, 'Go Snow, Go,' at the top of their lungs, allowing it to echo through the hallways.

* * *

The parents took their place in the booth, ready to cheer on their children. Mana-Ice had gotten over-excited and decorated their seats with Snowkids flags and handed out foam fingers and whistles to use during the match. Mei's mother was still furious about her daughter's position; she made no effort to hide it. The group were all on speaking terms again, deciding it was better not to stress their children out more than necessary.

* * *

Zain took his place in the Presidential booth surrounded by guards; he could concentrate on his own safety knowing that Benson was taking care of Micro-Ice's safety. He was really lucky to have such a good friend.

* * *

Benson stood outside the locker room watching the young players leave. His accomplice had been in contact; they would make the grab _very_ soon. Everything was going according to plan. A sly smile spread across the adviser's face. _Very soon, indeed._

* * *

The two teams had taken their positions on the field and were ready to begin. The ball shot up in to the air, D'Jok was just that bit quicker than the Ryker player and centered it to Rocket. The game was underway.

* * *

Artie and Bennett had been observing Technoid's phone lines for the better part of the day. So far, nothing too alarming had come up; several conversations between employees about match predictions, some calls were about trade and some about new models for robots. Bennett had been hard at work while Artie listened to the match on his earpiece; the blonde-haired man had to shush his young friend several times, he could get a bit lost in the moment.

* * *

Sonny and Corso had located the president's booth and were watching him from the vent. Sonny needed to speak to him urgently; but with all of those guards surrounding him, it was a death sentence. There had to be a way to speak to him.

* * *

On the field, things weren't going as well as they could for the young Akillian team; the Rykers had been playing rather brutally; Mei and Thran had been fouled by two Rykers on the first offensive action, sustaining quite a bruising. Tia had been tripped up by a Ryker defender, earning a free kick for the Snowkids, which was saved by Kernor. It was half-time, with no goals from either team.

* * *

The Pirate duo in the air vent saw President Zain rise from his seat and leave the booth without guards.

'Sonny, there's your chance.'

'Stay here, Corso. I need to speak to him alone.'

Before the second-in-command could argue, Sonny sprung in to action and followed the powerful man down an isolated corridor.

* * *

The mood in the locker room was solemn; the teenagers were exhausted, they had already given it their all, but that wasn't good enough.

'What on Akillian has gotten in to you, Snowkids? You're the current cup champions, you've beaten the Rykers before, and you eliminated them just four years ago! You had better get your act together; otherwise, you have no chance! Get out there and fight until the end!'

* * *

Sonny had followed Zain until he felt it was safe to talk without the risk of being seen; he was still a wanted man, after all.

'President Zain.'

The powerful man spun around to see the most wanted man in the galaxy standing behind him, blocking his exit.

'S-Sonny Blackbones,' he stammered, 'what are you doing here?'

'We don't have much time; you have to trust me,' he pleaded, 'you are in very real danger.'

'Why? What are you going to-'

'I'm not a threat to you, Sir. I'm trying to help you,' he started, 'you need to listen to me!'

Zain couldn't explain why, but he felt strangely at ease with the Pirate chief. If anyone knew how to stop this company from hurting his family, it was Sonny Blackbones.

'Okay, I'm listening.'

'First of all, I need to know if you're aware of Technoid's plan for a new war.'

'Yes, I'm aware,' he was impressed at how the Pirate leader was already aware of this issue.

'Tell me what you know.'

'We can talk in my booth, half time is almost over.'

* * *

The second half of the match had just begun, with the Rykers still being merciless on the young players; they found it difficult to keep control of the ball. As the match continued, the score remained nil-nil.

* * *

Sonny and Zain had been joined by Corso in the president's booth; the guards had been dismissed so the three could talk in private.

'So, you see, we fear that they're planning to hurt my son to force me to meet their demands.'

'I understand your concerns as a father perfectly; I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to D'Jok.'

Zain raised an eyebrow at the Pirate leader, 'you're D'Jok's father?'

Sonny smiled as he gave a few brief nods, 'yes.'

'You must be very proud of him,' the powerful man smiled.

'I am,' the Pirate leader nodded as he watched his son tackle a Ryker.

'I think we're getting a bit off-topic here,' Corso moaned; he wanted to know what they were dealing with as soon as possible.

Sonny nodded and turned to face the president once again, 'I didn't know you had a son.'

Zain turned to face him, 'most people don't, his mother and I separated a long time ago.'

The Pirate chief nodded, 'I'm sorry to hear that, Sir. We'll do all we can to protect him.'

'I appreciate it, Mr. Blackbones,' he grinned.

'It's our job to keep the galaxy safe,' he winked, 'so; do you mind me asking where your son is?'

Zain smirked, 'that would be the one who just high-fived your son.'

Sonny and Corso looked at him in disbelief.

'You're Micro-Ice's father?' Sonny questioned, he knew that the boy lived alone with his mother back on Akillian, D'Jok had told him that his father was too busy to bother with him; but that was pretty unexpected.

Zain only nodded, amused at the shock on the duo's face, 'so, you know my boy?'

'Well, he's definitely not a stranger to us,' Sonny laughed.

The three men continued to talk about how they would go about protecting the president's family for the remainder of the match.

* * *

There was less than a minute of match play left and, still, no one had scored. The Ryker's coach smirked; it was time to help an old friend. He leaned closer to the monitor and spoke slowly.

_'Take out number three.'_

* * *

D'Jok looked at the clock; 18 seconds left, he saw that Micro-Ice was uncovered in the penalty area. The older striker passed the ball to his little brother figure and got in to position to shoot. Micro-Ice stopped the ball with his foot, as he lifted his leg to take the shot; he felt a sharp pain in his ankle just before hitting the floor. He had just been fouled by Shekmut.

* * *

In the coach's pod, Simbai examined the striker's health on her computer.

'It's okay, Aarch. It's just a sprain,' she reassured the coach, 'he'll be fine for the next match.'

Aarch breathed a sigh of relief; they needed all of their players for the final.

* * *

D'Jok helped his fellow teammate up off the ground. The youngest Snowkid shook his foot and inhaled sharply before looking up at the redhead.

'Why do they always do that?' the smaller striker grunted. Every time they played the Rykers, he ended up on the ground one way or another.

Rocket lined the ball up for the free-kick. This was their last chance to score, with one teammate down; they couldn't go in to extra time. With a deep breath, the former captain took a few steps back. He remembered what his uncle had told them in the briefing room; Kernor was weak when it came to her lower right. In one quick motion, Rocket smacked the ball in to the back of the net. The stadium erupted in to joyful roars.

* * *

The parents were perhaps the loudest in the stadium; their children were finally back on track; Zain had gotten over his initial outrage that his son had been hurt after Sonny made it clear that Shekmut couldn't be thrown in to prison for a football foul. The mood in the presidential booth was also an ecstatic one; the two fathers were cheering on their sons. Some may say it was an unusual sight; the president of the galaxy sitting side-by-side with a wanted man at a football match; cheering madly as they jumped up and down; clearly lost in the moment.

The match ended after a matter of seconds; a victory of 1-0 for the Snowkids.

* * *

Artie let out a loud cheer when he heard the result through his earpiece.

'Artie, do you mind? I'm trying to work!' Bennett scolded as he tapped in to another phone line; this one was the private number of an employee.

'Sorry, Bennett,' Artie said apologetically as he tapped in to one of Technoid's trade lines.

Bennett listened attentively to the ringing of the line, waiting for it to be answered, moments later, his eyes widened behind his glasses.

'Artie, hand me the transmitter, we need to warn Sonny!'

* * *

Sonny's enjoyment was interrupted by furious beeping from his holo-watch; pressing the receive button, an image of Bennett appeared.

'Bennett, what is it?' he questioned.

'Sonny, I don't know if this means anything to you, but they're about to _make the grab_.'

* * *

Micro-Ice sat in Simbai's medical room with D'Jok; she had left to get some ice-packs for the young striker's ankle. The duo looked at the doorway when a figure appeared.

'Master Micro-Ice, some of my friends would like to talk to you,' Benson sneered.

A pair of grey-blue eyes looked up at his father's adviser; he shrugged and hopped off the bed on to his good foot.

'I'll be right back, D'Jok,' he said as he limped out of the room after Benson.

* * *

Sonny froze. If they were making the grab now, that meant that he had to get to the Snowkid's locker room. And fast.

'Come on, Corso!' he demanded, without giving the president a second glance, the Pirates leaped in to the vent and sprinted in the direction of the locker room.

* * *

D'Jok sat still as he waited for his best friend to return; they had been gone for a few minutes. Suddenly, his holo-watch started beeping, an image of his father appeared.

'Dad?'

'D'Jok, don't leave Micro-Ice's side, someone's about to-'

He didn't need to hear the rest, he knew what this meant. He needed to protect his little brother. The striker bolted out of the room and searched the corridor frantically for his little friend.

'Micro-Ice!'

* * *

Benson sneered at the limping teenager walking beside him. There's no way he'd be able to run; this would make things so much easier. He led the boy down an isolated corridor, they had made this arrangement earlier; no one could hear the boy's cries down here; the perfect location.

'Here we are,' he smirked as they stopped dead in their tracks.

'Here?' Micro-Ice didn't understand why he would be brought to meet some of Benson's _friends_ down here. Then, a thought hit him; _friends, a mole from the inside, powerful enemy._

_Oh flux._

'You're the-'

***THUMP***


	13. The Captor

CHPT13

'Micro-Ice! Micro-Ice! Answer me!' D'Jok screamed as he frantically searched the corridors. His father was never wrong when it came to these things, and now he couldn't find his best friend; he feared the worst.

'Micro-Ice! Please!'

Something at the end of a small corridor caught his eye; it was a pure white hallway, yet he could have sworn he caught a glimpse of something dark red on the floor. As he approached, his suspicions were confirmed; now was a pretty good time to panic.

_Blood._

* * *

Micro-Ice slowly opened his eyes.

_Eugh, what happened?_

The captive sat up slowly; his head was throbbing. Clutching his head in his hands, he let out a quiet groan. Looking around him, he noticed that he was in a dimly lit room, from what he could tell, it looked like an old cell; a bare mattress sat on a steel bed frame, apart from a few boxes scattered across the room, there wasn't much else. When the situation registered in his brain, Micro-Ice mentally kicked himself.

_How did I get caught off guard like that?_

_One moment of weakness and the whole galaxy had to suffer._

Sitting on the cold floor, he began mentally planning his escape.

_Alright, Micro-Ice, think like a Pirate._

_What would a Pirate do?_

_Come on, Micro-Ice; you must have learned something! You lived with the Pirates for two days for crying out loud._

_Stupid memory-erasing device!_

The frustration grew within the young athlete, he couldn't think of anything. The young footballer froze as the door slowly opened.

* * *

Sonny and Corso followed D'Jok's directions; the distressed teenager had called his father and told him that he couldn't find Micro-Ice, but that he had also found some blood in an isolated corridor. The Pirates had turned in to the corridor to see D'Jok sitting against the wall, his fingers were gripping his bright red hair; the teenager was obviously angry. Sonny ran to his son and brought him in to a tight hug.

'It's alright, D'Jok,' he spoke softly, his son was clearly distraught.

Corso inspected the blood; there wasn't an awful lot of it, maybe enough to be from a bad nose bleed. The second-in-command turned to see his good friend comfort his son. Corso hated to see Sonny like this; they were like brothers. He knew that the leader wouldn't back down; he would fight until the end. Technoid had better watch their back.

* * *

Micro-Ice looked up at his captor; he could have sworn he'd heard of someone who matched his description.

'Well, look who's up,' the figure sneered, 'did you have a nice sleep?'

'You know, actually, I didn't. The floor isn't that comfortable.'

'I'd advise you to save the humour,' he warned as he brought his face down to the boy's level, asserting his dominance.

Micro-Ice didn't want to admit it, not even to himself; but at this precise moment-in-time, he was terrified. He felt the green eyes of his captor piercing his soul; they were truly terrifying. A metallic hand grabbed his chin and turned it to the right, allowing the man to get a better look.

'Oh, you are definitely Zain's son.'

He released the boy's chin and let out a sinister laugh.

'We won't have any problems getting what we want from your father.'

* * *

D'Jok slowly made his way back to the team to break the news. Sonny had come along too; he knew that his son needed support. They reached the door of the locker room and walked in.

Mei looked up and saw immediately that something was wrong. Amidst the excitement of her teammates, she studied D'Jok's face, trying to figure out what had happened. When his father, the infamous Sonny Blackbones followed him through the door, she knew it was something serious.

'Guys?' D'Jok spoke over the excitement of his teammates, once he was sure he had their attention, he continued.

'There's something you need to know.'

* * *

Mana-Ice and Shiloh expressed their excitement to each other as they hurried down the corridor to set up the Snowkid's victory party. Their high spirits were interrupted when Zain ran frantically towards them.

'Mana!'

'Zain?' his ex-wife froze in her tracks, 'what are you doing here?'

'Mana, tell me you've seen Micro-Ice,' the frantic father pleaded, completely ignoring her question.

'Zain, what are you talking about? We just left the booth.'

'Mana-Ice, who is this?' Shiloh questioned the woman beside her; she seemed to know this crazy man who had just ran up to them and demanded to know the location of her son.

Mana-Ice ignored her son's girlfriend when she saw the distressed look on her former husband's face.

'Zain, tell me our son's okay.'

* * *

D'Jok had just broken the news to his teammates; Micro-Ice was missing, almost certainly kidnapped. He could be dead. He could be hurt. D'Jok didn't know.

'Are you absolutely certain?' Rocket spoke up, recovering from his initial shock.

'If you knew what I knew, you'd be pretty sure too,' the captain sighed, looking at his feet.

Mei tightened her grip on D'Jok's hand, 'D'Jok, none of this is your fault.'

'I could have prevented it though, Mei.'

Mei didn't say anything; there was nothing she _could_ say. When he was in this mood, words wouldn't help. The brunette rested her head on D'Jok's arm, all she could do now was comfort him. She tried to imagine how it would feel if Tia were to go missing; she couldn't bear the feeling.

A pair of emerald eyes watched the scene unfold. Tia let out a deep sigh, drifting in to deep thought._ Could this have something to do with his father?_

Sonny studied the distressed faces of the young players in front of him. He had yet to break the news to the president, but after bolting out of the booth so suddenly, he was sure to be suspicious. He needed to get this rescue mission underway. _The sooner, the better._

* * *

Micro-Ice was still slumped against the wall. The man with the glowing green eyes had left a little while ago; he hadn't said much, nothing at all really. The appearance of his abductor was enough to send shivers down his spine; just looking at him made the boy feel like a vulnerable child, made him want to crawl up in to a ball until summer once again arrived in Akillian. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the door open until a beam of light spread across the floor. When he saw the intruder, his blood boiled.

'Well, if it isn't Judas himself,' the teenager scowled.

'Oh, come now, Micro-Ice, that's a little mean,' the traitor sneered.

'I've got some other words in mind, but I'm pretty sure you won't like them.'

Benson rolled his eyes. _Could he be any more like Zain?_ He had his hair, his eyes, his stubbornness; everything. It was almost as if he had Zain himself at his mercy.

'I noticed you haven't begged me to let you go,' he stated with a disturbing look in his eye.

Micro-Ice shot him a threatening glare, 'you don't expect me to believe that'll change anything, do you?'

The older man narrowed his eyes, 'didn't anyone tell you that a bad attitude gets you nowhere?'

'My attitude isn't my main concern now.'

Benson simply sighed before turning towards the door.

'He's all yours now, General.'

Micro-Ice went pale.

_General?_

_Metal hand?_

_Glowing green eyes?_

_Galactic domination?_

_**Bleylock.**_


	14. Thinking Of You

CHPT14

Zain massaged his temples; this wasn't good. The Pirate chief had just broken the news to him that the son he had just been re-united with was almost certainly in the clutches of a galaxy-wide threat.

'So, what do you propose we do?'

Sonny took a sip of his coffee, allowing the hot liquid to ooze down his throat before answering.

'My men and I will search this galaxy from top to bottom to find your son. I will assign one of my men to stay with you, Technoid will be in contact, that, I can guarantee.'

Zain felt defeated. Now, his job had taken everything from him; his wife, his freedom and now, it had resulted in the kidnapping of his son. Mana was furious when she heard about her son's disappearance, well, what mother wouldn't be?

'The important thing is that you don't give in to any of Technoid's demands.'

'Won't that make them hurt him?' the worry was visible in the powerful man's eyes, he'd do anything to bring Micro-Ice back.

'Technoid may be blinded by lust for power, but even they can see that they'll get nothing from you if anything happens to him,' Sonny re-assured him, he had seen this kind of thing before and was speaking from experience.

Zain nodded; the Pirates and Technoid had been at each other's throats for years, if anyone knew the ins-and-outs of Technoid, it was their leader.

'Sir, I just heard the news!'

The two men turned to see Benson standing in the doorway; his expression turned from worry to fear when he saw who the president was with.

_This could be problematic. _

'Benson, thank goodness you're here,' Zain sighed, it was a real comfort to know that his trusted adviser and friend was here.

Sonny stared at the two men before him. Something didn't add up. If this was the man that had been assigned to watch out for Micro-Ice, President Zain had obviously thought that he would be capable. Yet, Micro-Ice was missing and his designated babysitter had just heard the news? Come to think of it, where was he the past few hours? He was either** very** inefficient, or had something to hide.

_He was definitely a person of interest._

* * *

'And that makes 132 tiles… again,' Micro-Ice mumbled, he had been counting the number of tiles lining the ceiling.

The boredom was overwhelming for the young striker; he had already counted the ceiling tiles three times, attempted to build a fort out of the few boxes scattered across the room and insulted the green-eyed, metal beast in his mind, that had given him a good chuckle. Micro-Ice slowly made circular motions with his injured ankle; he may as well do what he could to ease the pain, especially if he was going to make a run for it. The boy winced in pain a few times; he stopped rotating his foot when he began to feel a little drowsy. It had been a long day, consisting of a brutal match, an injury, discovering his father's friend was a traitor and being kidnapped by a frightening criminal who had threatened his best friend before. The teenager crawled on to the mattress and curled up in to a ball. It wasn't the most comfortable place to fall asleep, but it was better than the cold, hard floor. Despite the circumstances, it took only moments for his eye-lids to close gently, allowing the teenager to drift off in to a deep sleep.

* * *

Mana-Ice was standing on her balcony, gazing out at the busy night-life in Genesis; those people were lucky, carefree, their son hadn't been taken away in an instant. She almost envied them. The possibility that her little boy could be gone forever mocked her.

_No, Mana. Don't think like that. He'll come back._

'I thought I might find you out here.'

Mana-Ice jumped slightly before she realized who it was. She looked to her left to see her former lover lean on the railing in front of them before turning her attention back to the city engulfed in young people stumbling out of bars and nightclubs.

'The Pirates have already started to plan the mission.'

The aging woman nodded; she had faith in Sonny and his Pirates. They'd never let the galaxy down before. Her hazel eyes gazed at the ghostly sphere that illuminated the night sky.

'Do you think Micro-Ice can see the moon?'

Zain looked at her; she was fascinated by the smallest things, knowing that the child she raised in to a star footballer could be looking at the moon and thinking of his loved ones gave her a small sense of comfort.

'Maybe,' he simply said.

The pair stood in silence for a while longer, each wondering how their child was coping.

* * *

D'Jok sat on his bed, trying for what felt like the millionth time to reach Micro-Ice's holo-watch. It was a long-shot, but it _was_ a shot. Again, the mocking ring didn't cease; he wasn't picking up. Or, he _couldn't _pick up.

Mei quietly sauntered over to her lover and sat down beside him.

'How're you holding up?'

'My best friend's gone missing and my father's ready to go on a mission to save him that may as well be a death wish, how do you think I'm holding up?'

Mei knew his anger wasn't directed at her; he was upset over the kidnapping. Who wouldn't be? They grew up together, made their dreams come true together, fought together through their hardships; they were basically brothers.

'D'Jok,' she began as she slipped a comforting arm around his shoulders, 'it'll be fine. You know yourself that if Sonny's got anything to do with it, they'll both be back before you know it.'

D'Jok allowed himself to smile sweetly at his girlfriend, she really was amazing.

* * *

Micro-Ice awoke to a trembling sensation beneath the bed; it took him a little while to sit up before a large jolt knocked him to the floor.

'Son of a Xenon that hurt,' he murmured as he massaged his throbbing head.

Another shock caused Micro-Ice to grab on tightly to one of the poles of the bed. He listened carefully when he heard what sounded like an intercom go off.

'_We apologize for the rough flight, ladies and gentlemen, please remain at your posts. It should be smooth sailing from here on out, we hope…'_

The captive was now more confused than ever. A rough flight? What did they mean by that? They were in Genesis not long ago. Then it hit him; they were on a ship, a moving ship. This would make them hard to track. _Clever_.

'_But where are they taking me?'_


	15. Incoming Call

CHPT15

Mei had decided it was best to give D'Jok some space; he needed time to calm himself down. It had been almost a day since Micro-Ice disappeared, and he was still blaming himself. There was nothing more Mei could do for her boyfriend but let him have his alone-time. She knew that there was another teenager that would be just as upset as D'Jok was.

'Shiloh?'

The golden-eyed teenager looked up from her computer to see the famous defender standing in her doorway.

'Mei? What can I do for you?'

'I know we've never really talked before, but I just wanted to see how you were holding up.'

Shiloh gave her a sincere smile, 'I guess I'm alright. Thanks, Mei.'

'You know, I could take you shopping if you want, it always cheers me up.'

'You want to take me shopping?' the younger teenager raised an eyebrow. The first proper conversation she had with the girl and she wanted to take her shopping?

'Well, sitting around moping isn't doing anyone any good. Grab your coat.'

It didn't sound like a request, more like an order. Shiloh had never really bothered with shopping before; but it did sound appealing. At least it was more productive than sitting in the hotel room worrying about the infamous striker of the Snowkids.

* * *

Micro-Ice sat in his cell whistling the Akillian National Anthem. If he wasn't getting out of here, he could at least make his own fun; annoying the flux out of people was what he specialized in, and, to be fair, it was fun. The guards outside the door were becoming increasingly irritated. If Bleylock wasn't going to do it soon; they'd kill him themselves.

Micro-Ice looked up when the door slammed against the wall.

'Will you be so kind as to cut that out?'

Micro-Ice looked at the frustrated face of the guard and snorted.

'Is someone a little irritated?'

The guard scowled at this remark before storming out of the room and slamming the door shut.

Micro-Ice was left alone with his own thoughts to keep him company.

_It's funny how you're only afraid of Bleylock in here, huh?_

* * *

'What about this one?'

Shiloh looked up to see Mei holding a sleek red dress; she had to admit, it was pretty, but she lived in Akillian. Where would she wear it?

'Thanks, Mei, but I wouldn't be able to wear it when I got back to Akillian.'

'Don't be silly! You always need a dress like this for your wardrobe!' the brunette beauty exclaimed as she placed the dress over her arm.

'I'm sure Micro-Ice would like it,' the younger teenager laughed lightly, trying to cheer herself up.

'Think about it this way,' Mei started as she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, 'it'll be a nice welcome home present for him.'

Shiloh smiled for the first time since Micro-Ice disappeared. She had Mei pegged as one of those obnoxious, self-involved girls that only cared about their appearance and careers. Now that she felt closer to Mei, a sense of guilt took hold of her; it brought a new meaning to the phrase _'don't judge a book by its cover.'_

* * *

Zain sat on the sofa in his suite, preparing himself for the call they were all waiting for. Corso had wired the phone up to a device that would allow every Pirate on this mission to hear the call. The Pirate had given strict orders for no one to call unless it was vital; they needed the line free at all times. The second-in-command noticed that the man in front of him was preparing himself for the worst; Sonny had ordered him to stand his ground and not give in to the demands of Technoid.

'Sonny knows what he's doing, Sir.'

'I don't doubt that for a moment, Corso.'

Zain let out a sigh; it had been almost 24 hours, and still nothing; were they even going to call? Were they wrong this whole time and they were just going to kill him on the spot? Were they even going to give him an opportunity to save his own flesh and blood?

Then, the phone began to ring.

* * *

Thran and Ahito had been visited by D'Jok; Mei had taken Shiloh shopping, Rocket was with Tia working out match strategies and Micro-Ice was nowhere to be found. It was just the three of them sitting in the twin's room watching the sport's news.

'It's not the same without him, is it?' the older twin stated, breaking the eerie silence.

It was true; without Micro-Ice's smart remarks, loud laughing or his annoying habit of munching too loudly on food, it didn't feel like a night off from training. Being a foursome for as long as they could remember, they were particularly affected by his absence.

'Look on the bright side, D'Jok. You get a room to yourself for a little while,' Ahito tried, but the attempt was in vain as the redhead stared at his shoes.

'I just miss him, Ahito. Even his annoying habits,' D'Jok preached.

_Even the ones that make me want to kill him._

* * *

Zain gulped; he was expecting this call, but the moment it came, he almost didn't want to pick up.

'All teams on stand-by, we have contact,' Corso spoke in to his earpiece before pushing a red button on the device and giving the distressed father a brief nod, signalling it was time.

Zain's shaky hand picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear.

'He-hello?'

_'Hello, Mr. President.'_

'Who is this?'

_'All will be revealed in good time. I must inform you that I have something very precious to you in my possession.'_

'A-and what would that be?'

_'Let's not play games here, Zain. My patience is wearing thin.'_

'What do you want?'

_'A list of my demands can be found beneath the plant pot on your balcony. If you choose to ignore these demands-'_

'I want to hear my son, put him on.'

_'I'm afraid that's not possible.'_

'If I don't have proof that my son is alive and well, you get nothing.'

The line was silent for a few moments; Zain feared he may have sealed his son's fate when the sound of a door opening got his attention. This was followed by some inaudible whispers, he assumed from the captor when the line went silent again.

_'Dad?'_

The two men breathed a sigh of relief; it was a bold move, but it had worked.

'Micro-Ice, are you alright?'

_'I'm fine, dad.'_

Zain wasn't convinced; his voice was meek. It sounded like he had been told to reassure his father in the hope that it would convince him to obey the captor.

'Do you know where you are?'

The line went silent for several seconds; though it felt like an eternity for the father.

_'Don't do anything he says.'_

The line went dead that second.

* * *

**15 chapters in a month, I'm pretty proud of that if I'm being honest XD**

**I know I said I wasn't going to update that quickly, but you can all thank my extraordinary amount of free time ^^'**


	16. A Father's Decision

CHPT16

Sonny brought his fists down on the table with great force.

'Micro-Ice, you idiot!' the Pirate leader bellowed; they were trying to help the kid, was he trying to get himself killed?

Artie looked up from his computer to see Sonny clench his teeth; he was going to kill that boy if Technoid didn't.

'But, Sonny, I thought you wanted the president to disobey them,' the youngest Pirate questioned.

'Artie, we need them to believe that he's going to follow through, otherwise Micro-Ice is as good as dead.'

It was very rare that the chief was this infuriated, Bennett and Artie felt a little bit scared, he definitely wasn't pleased, and it wasn't wise to anger their leader.

'Bennett, did you get a trace on the phone?' he demanded, the chief was wasting no time.

'Sorry Sonny, it looks like it's been destroyed; but I did get enough to run a voice recognition scan.'

'Do it.'

It took a while and the search had turned up nothing; the frustration was growing within the four Pirates when Bennett managed to expand the search, he looked in to the former Technoid employees and eliminated the metallic sound masking the voice of the culprit. Their jaws hit the floor when the name appeared on the screen.

Sonny narrowed his eyes; if Bleylock really had survived that fall, they had to work fast.

He wouldn't hesitate to kill Micro-Ice when he got what he wanted.

* * *

Bleylock seized the phone and threw it to the wall in anger. He looked down at the fearful boy on the floor who had backed in to the wall.

'What do you think you're doing?' he spat.

The hostage only blinked, trying not to show his fear, but his rapid breathing gave him away. Bleylock drove his foot in to the young boy's stomach; he took a sick kind of pleasure seeing the teenager cry out in pain as he curled into a protective ball on the floor with tears seeping from his grey-blue eyes. Bleylock knelt beside his prisoner.

'You'd just better hope that your father follows through with this,' he whispered in such a sinister tone that it made the striker freeze.

With that, he stood up, strolled out of the room and slammed the door.

_What a stupid child._

* * *

'Micro-Ice? Micro-Ice, are you there?'

Zain froze; he still had the phone pressed to his ear, hoping that his son would answer him. He didn't even notice Corso take the phone from him and hang up.

That's it, he's dead.

'Your son's a moron,' Corso sighed as he dialled Sonny's number.

'I know,' the president sighed as he buried his face in his hands.

'Sonny, did you find anything?' Corso questioned his friend, hoping to obtain more information.

'_Corso, it's Bleylock.' _

'Bleylock? But, Sonny, he's dead.'

Zain looked up in horror; was this the same Bleylock who had corrupted Technoid? He had received reports on this man; the last person he wanted to be in possession of his son was this criminal. While Corso discussed tactics with Sonny, Zain made his way out on to the balcony to look for the list. It was right where Bleylock said; under the plant pot. His grey-blue eyes scrutinized the piece of paper carefully.

_This wasn't good._

* * *

Tia was sitting on the edge of her bed staring at the photo that Micro-Ice had given her. One of her good friends had been taken right under their noses, possibly because of his parentage. It wasn't his fault that his father was the president of the galaxy, why should he suffer the consequences? She looked up when Rocket entered the room with multiple sheets of paper in his hands.

'Hey, Tia, I've been looking at the Xenons' strategies and-' he stopped mid-sentence when he saw what his white-haired beauty was looking at; he threw the papers in the air, creating a rainstorm of hard work and careful planning.

'Tia, you took the picture? Oh flux, this is bad, Aarch is gonna kill us, we're gonna-'

'Rocket, calm down!' the midfielder pleaded as she waved her arms in front of her boyfriend's face, 'I didn't steal it!'

Rocket breathed a sigh of relief, 'then how did you-'

'Micro-Ice gave it to me.'

'What? Why would he give you a picture of the president's family?'

Tia sighed, she didn't feel right about telling him this, but couldn't back out now.

'Well, I guess there's no harm in telling you now.'

* * *

Corso had left just under 10 minutes ago with the list for Sonny, leaving Zain alone in his suite; he had an important decision to make.

'Sir, are you okay?'

Zain looked up to see Benson making his way to the sofa facing him.

'Benson, I don't know,' he sighed.

'I can imagine,' the adviser said sympathetically as he sat down slowly, 'what are you going to do?'

The powerful man buried his face in his hands, making a sadistic smile appear on Benson's face.

'I haven't figured that out yet,' he swallowed before looking his close friend in the eye, 'everyone's telling me to reject their demands, even Micro-Ice.'

'But, Sir, what would happen if you didn't comply?'

'I don't want to think about it, Benson.'

Benson smiled inside, everything was coming together perfectly. Time for his final phase of the plan.

'Zain, do you trust me?'

'Of course, why?'

'I know how much you care for your son, so listen to me when I tell you to do whatever it takes to save him; don't let these law-breakers tell you what to do.'

Zain let out a deep sigh, they may not abide by the law at all times, but he had really trusted the Pirates to bring back his son unscathed. Was he wrong this whole time? Benson had never been wrong before, he knew Zain for many years; he only had his best interest at heart, right?

'Benson, arrange a public conference for two days from now.'

* * *

'So, let me get this straight; Micro-Ice is President Zain's son, and you think that has something to do with his disappearance?'

Tia nodded, 'do you trust me?'

'I guess I have no reason not to. Does anyone else know?'

'I think D'Jok knows, but you have to promise not to tell anyone that I told you.'

'Is that what Micro-Ice said when he told you?' the golden-eyed boy questioned as he tried to lighten the mood.

Tia responded with a light punch, 'just promise you won't say anything?'

'I promise,' he smiled as he lightly kissed his girlfriend's lips.

* * *

Benson made sure he was alone when he dialled the number of his accomplice; it took only a matter of seconds before he made contact.

'General, he has ordered for the conference to be held in two days.'

_'Excellent work, Benson. I knew I could count on you.'_

'Where do we go from here?'

_'We'll change course tonight, I no longer have use for the boy.'_

* * *

The pain had subsided for the most part and Micro-Ice was now able to sit up.

_Smart move, Micro-Ice, that hurt more than a flux-covered kick from Sinedd. _

_Pfft, I could have fought back if I used the Breath._

_Yeah right, Micro-Ice, the Flux Society would kill you if you used the flux._

_Wait a minute…_

_Duh, Micro-Ice, they can track the illegal use of flux!_

_Why didn't I think of that before?_


	17. Follow That Flux

CHPT17

_Alright, Micro-Ice, concentrate._

The young striker was trying to channel all of his energy in to summoning the Breath, but he wasn't sure how to when it wasn't being used for sports.

_Come on, Micro-Ice!_

The teenager was growing more and more frustrated; he had used his flux hundreds of times before. He could do this.

_Micro-Ice, get your head in the game!_

_Head in the game. That's it!_

Then, a thought hit him; he may not have a ball, fans cheering him on or his jersey, but he could always pretend. He thought back to his penalty against the Lightnings; sure, he didn't use his flux with that shot, but if he concentrated enough; maybe, just maybe, he would trick himself in to believing he was on the pitch. He closed his eyes, took a few steps back and brought his foot behind him before swinging it forward. He pleaded inwardly to himself before slowly opening his eyes and looking at his hands.

They were engulfed in blue flux.

* * *

Sonny observed his men follow up on every lead they had on the whereabouts of General Bleylock and the youngest Snowkid. He and Corso had read over the list of demands; they couldn't let Zain blow this, the stability of the galaxy was at stake.

'Sonny!'

The Pirate chief turned to see Simbai approach; she appeared to be out of breath.

'Yes, Simbai?'

'The Flux Society has recorded an unauthorised use of the Breath.'

'Where was this, Dame Simbai?'

'It's difficult to get a precise location, but they were able to get a lock on the one who used the flux,' the medic reached in to her bag and pulled out a small device, 'do you think yourself and Clamp could identify the one who used the Breath?'

Sonny took the device in his hands; this may be the key to finding Micro-Ice, if his flux matched the readings recorded on this device, they'd know where he was. Wasting no time, he took off sprinting to Clamp's lab.

After all, he wasn't out of danger yet.

* * *

The twins had been sitting in their room playing their consoles when Sonny Blackbones sped past their bedroom door. Their dark eyes were full of confusion until they heard faint shouting down the corridor.

'Clamp, fire up your machine, we've got a lead!'

Thran and Ahito exchanged looks.

'Micro-Ice?' they said simultaneously, good old twin telepathy.

They each let out a slight laugh; it always freaked Micro-Ice out when they did that; especially when they first met.

* * *

_Thran sat with his feet dangling from the bed; the little 7 year old had been admitted to hospital following a mysterious illness that his little brother had contracted just a few short months ago._

'_Yes, madam, we've seen this in several young children as of late, but unfortunately, we can't figure out what could be causing it.'_

_Thran looked in the doorway to see a nurse walk in with a woman and small boy; he was pale and his eyes were bloodshot. Little Thran had seen that in both himself and Ahito. The little boy was carried over to the bed next to him by the brown-haired woman with the nurse following closely behind. Once he was settled, she spoke again._

'_Now, kiddo, make yourself comfortable and Nurse Gould will be here very soon,' she said with a smile before she left through the same door she came in._

_Thran looked over at the black-haired boy; he looked pretty scared as he grabbed on to his assumed-mother's hand and refused to let go. Ahito's eyelids fluttered open and he looked around him before turning his attention back to his big brother._

'_Where are Mom and Dad?'_

'_They had to go talk to somebody,' the older twin shrugged, as long as they had each other, they could handle the hospital alone._

_Ahito jumped on to Thran's bed, laid his head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep. At that moment, Nurse Wells, a purple haired woman with sea-green eyes entered with Nurse Gould._

'_Miss, could I speak with you a moment?' Nurse Gould questioned the woman, her deep blue eyes never leaving the other's brown._

'_Sweetie, I'll be back in just a tick,' she said, kissing the small boy on the forehead before following the blonde nurse away from the bed._

_Thran's ears perked up when he heard the hushed conversation between the two women as they passed his bed before exiting._

'_Nurse Wells is going to run a blood test on your son, I'll take you to Doctor Rhodes and…'_

_Ouch, Thran hated blood tests, and by the looks on the black-haired boy's face, he wasn't too keen either; he shut his eyes tightly and looked away, holding out his shaky arm for the nurse to take. Just as the needle was about to pierce his skin, Thran jumped down from the bed and grasped his hand, he always did this with his little brother, and it never failed to give him a sense of comfort. The smaller child seemed to relax a little and before they knew it, the plaster was covering the small puncture._

'_My name's Thran,' the little Asian boy smiled, 'and that's my little brother, Ahito,' he continued as he pointed towards his sleeping sibling._

'_I'm Micro-Ice,' the boy grinned._

'_That's a weird name,' a sleepy voice came from the far bed. Ahito sleepily made his way over to the two boys._

_Micro-Ice's big eyes looked from one twin to the other, he looked so confused._

'_You two look really-'_

'_Alike?' they answered together, making Micro-Ice's grey-blue eyes double in size._

'_How did you do that?'_

_The two blue-haired children laughed._

'_It's a twin thing,' Thran giggled, 'I'm the older twin, and Ahito's the little twin!'_

'_Twin?'_

'_We're brothers born on the same day,' Ahito smiled as he climbed on to Micro-Ice's bed, curled up in to a ball and once again fell in to a deep sleep._

'_That's so cool!'_

'_Do you have any brothers or sisters?' the older twin asked curiously._

'_Nope, just me,' the smaller boy shook his head, 'but D'Jok's like a brother.'_

'_D'Jok? Is he the boy with the destiny?'_

'_That's the one.'_

'_Does that mean you go to Akillian Primary?'_

'_Yep! The class below D'Jok.'_

'_So you're a year younger than the three of us, which would make you 6?' _

'_You're a genius!' he beamed._

_Before Thran could answer, Ahito let out a quiet whimper in his sleep._

'_What's up with him?'_

'_He does that; anywhere we go, he sleeps.'_

'_Wow.'_

_They talked for a while until their parents returned, thrilled to see their children making friends. Several days passed with several visitors, including D'Jok. The four kids got on like a house on fire._

_That friendship continued to blossom through the years, known among the team as the Akillian Quartet._

* * *

Sonny and Clamp had been working tirelessly to try and make a positive link to Micro-Ice's flux, Clamp still had some left-over flux from the Snowkids following the Bleylock incident during the last cup, he thought it might come in handy one day; the aging man knew his stuff, alright. The test took a little time, time that Sonny didn't like to waste, but in the end, it was proven to be the missing teenager's flux. The duo sighed in union; they could now track the boy down, this dramatically improved their chances of saving him from an unfortunate death. After thanking Clamp, Sonny grabbed the device and made his way quickly to the Black Manta, giving orders through his holo-watch; Corso, Artie and Bennett would assist Sonny with the rescue, Clamp would stand-by at the hotel in case something came up, Dame Simbai would come with the Pirates in case Micro-Ice needed any medical attention, all available Pirates were to help in any way they could; it was all systems go.

_They would leave tonight._

* * *

D'Jok was sitting in his room being comforted by his girlfriend when he heard Sonny's orders. The striker jumped up and headed for the door, like he was somehow drawn to the ship. He felt an arm around his wrist.

'Mei, let go.'

'No, D'Jok! Don't think I'm going to let you go and get hurt!'

'Mei, I have to go.'

'D'Jok, Sonny and his men can handle it, they're professionals.'

'Mei, he's my best friend, practically my brother.'

'I know that, D'Jok, but you have to have faith in your father.'

D'Jok knew she was right, but trying to reason with him was useless right now; all sense been drained from his head the past 2 days.

'Mei, please, I have to go. It's Micro-Ice. Imagine if it were Tia.'

Mei looked down; D'Jok and Micro-Ice were joined together by a special bond that no one could break; similarly to herself and Tia. Reluctantly, she lowered her hand and kissed him tenderly before pulling away and looking in to his deep green eyes.

'Then I won't stop you.'

* * *

Zain leaned on the railing of his balcony with a glass of Scotch in his hand. He was thinking about events that would take place in the near-future. The conference would be held in less than 48 hours; he knew Sonny and the Pirates were leaving tonight to follow up on a lead; apparently, they were confident that this was legit. He didn't want to take that risk. He had made a judgement call and trusted Benson; he'd have to take matters in to his own hands. The aging politician thought back to the list. It had laid out certain things to be abolished from the galaxy, only he could do this. It made him feel sick to his stomach, all he had worked for to bring peace to this galaxy, all to be destroyed with one simple order in front of billions of life-forms.

_In 48 hours, the Flux Society would no longer exist._


	18. Tick Tock

CHPT18

Bleylock was sitting in his quarters having a drink when his computer monitor beeped, indicating that there was an incoming message. The villain pressed the 'receive' button and an image of Benson appeared, a concerned expression clad on his face.

'What do you want, Benson?' he wasn't in the mood to be disturbed, especially if that disruption included some bad news.

'General, there may be a problem,' he gulped.

His green eyes narrowed, 'I'm listening.'

'It seems that Sonny Blackbones and his Pirates have managed to get a lock on your ship.'

'How?' he demanded, infuriated that his plans were being foiled by that damned Pirate again.

'They're not telling us anything; Blackbones gave strict orders for the information to be kept within the Pirates, I fear they may be on to us.'

Bleylock thought for a moment; if they didn't speed their plans up, Sonny would be victorious. He couldn't let that happen again; this was his moment.

'Ensure that the conference goes ahead tonight, we can't wait until the agreed night. We'll get rid of the boy later.'

* * *

D'Jok had caught up to his father who was just about ready to board the Black Manta. The striker knew that his father wouldn't be best pleased with his desire to go with them, but he wouldn't be talked out of it. The teenager approached his father.

'Dad.'

The Pirate chief turned around to see his son standing there with a look of determination on his face, he had seen that expression in the mirror many times before.

'D'Jok, what is it?'

'Dad, I'm coming with you.'

'No, D'Jok. It's far too dangerous.'

'Look, I personally don't care if it's dangerous, I need to go!'

Sonny saw the desperation in his son's eyes; if D'Jok was anything like him, there'd be no talking him out of it.

'He's my best friend, you can't stop me.'

The blonde man let out a deep sigh; the teenager was right, he couldn't stop him, he'd do the same thing for Corso. His right-hand man would be furious if D'Jok tagged along; he was already short-tempered enough with the younger Pirates. Then again, he could protect his son if he were with them, he'd be able to keep a close eye on him, as long as he stayed out of trouble.

'Alright, D'Jok. Get on board.'

D'Jok hugged his father tightly, 'thank you so much!'

The red-haired teenager disappeared on to the infamous Pirate ship, followed by Sonny. The Black Manta sped in to space 10 minutes later.

* * *

Tia had rushed to her dorm when she heard that D'Jok had left with the Pirates; Mei must have been crushed. The tomboy opened the door to see Mei sitting on her bed reading a magazine, her expression was one of sadness.

'Mei, I just heard about D'Jok.'

The defender looked up to see Tia approach her.

'How'd you find out?'

'I overheard Sonny telling Clamp on the holo-computer.'

'Nothing gets past you, Tia,' the brunette chuckled.

It was true; Tia missed nothing, like a panther going for the kill. If the girl ever decided to go in to journalism, Callie Mystic had better watch her back.

'Mei, are you alright?'

'I'm fine, Tia. I let him go.'

'You let him go?'

'There was no talking him out of it.'

Tia placed herself beside Mei on the bed and set a reassuring hand on her best friend's knee.

'They'll be back, you know that.'

Mei smiled at the midfielder beside her, 'thanks, Tia.'

'Do you want to go shopping?'

The defender raised an eyebrow, 'Tia, you hate shopping.'

'It cheers you up, though,' she winked, 'I'll just go get Rocket's credit card.'

The brunette beauty laughed as Tia left the room; she could be as sweet as a button.

* * *

Corso clenched his teeth; not only was D'Jok invited to come along with them on this mission, but he hadn't stopped asking questions and interrupting their work; his presence distracted many young Pirates, they had bombarded him with requests for autographs and photos. This was an important mission, not a daycare center. It was getting increasingly hard not to strangle the kid.

'What does this-?'

'D'Jok, I'm trying to work!'

The striker backed up a few feet before Artie led him away from the red-faced Pirate.

'You don't wanna get on his bad side, D'Jok.'

'He has a good side?'

'Apparently, but I've never seen it.'

'Was he this edgy when Micro-Ice was here?'

'Nah, when you save Sonny Blackbones' life, old Corso goes easy on you.'

'Oh yeah, but if half of your DNA comes from him he's just so damn irritable,' he pouted.

Artie had to laugh at D'Jok's frustration; Corso was no push-over, if you wanted his respect, you'd have to do something pretty extraordinary, and things like football didn't count.

'Artie, I need you to help Bennett with monitoring the calls, apparently there's been some contact between Bleylock and President Zain.'

Artie turned to see Sonny's hazel eyes looking at him.

'No problem,' the young Pirate said as he sped off to Bennett's assigned area.

'D'Jok, Corso's about to blow a fuse, I think you should go get some rest.'

'I don't need rest.'

'D'Jok, you need to rest, you have-'

'Sonny!'

The chief turned around to see Bennett running towards him; he had a look of panic on his face.

'What is it, Bennett?'

'He's going ahead with this conference tonight at 8.'

'What?' he bellowed, he was going to ruin this plan if this went ahead, 'get him on the phone,** right now!**'

'No can do, Sonny, they've disconnected his phone line, the kidnappers told him it was a safety precaution.'

Sonny clenched his teeth, 'what an** idiot!**'

D'Jok backed away a few steps; he had never seen his father like this before.

'What time is it now, Bennett?'

'It's just passed 5 o'clock.'

Sonny ran his hand through his blonde locks. _Three hours at most._

'Sonny, they've stopped!' Corso shouted.

'What do you mean, Corso?' the leader questioned as he stood beside his best friend.

'The ship, it's landed.'

'Where?'

'An isolated moon not too far from here, we'd be able to get there in about half an hour.'

'Get moving, Corso. He may not have half an hour!'

* * *

Micro-Ice woke up to see two droids at the foot of the bed. Before he could say anything, they seized both his arms and trailed him out of the cell. The young athlete tried to walk with them so he wasn't trailed along the ground, but with a sprained ankle and sore stomach, it wasn't easy; he found himself inhaling sharply a few times as he was forced to walk on his still-throbbing foot. The robots stopped dead in their tracks, allowing the boy to look up. Bleylock stood there, his demonic eyes staring at the unfortunate teenager.

'What's going on?' the frightened striker questioned as he cowered away from the man in front of him; he couldn't see his mouth, but he was pretty sure the captor was smiling beneath that metal mask.

The general looked at the frightened boy in the clutches of the robots. In three hours, he would rule the galaxy, control all of the fluxes in existence and destroy anyone who got in his way. First things first, he had to get rid of the brat; this may have been his favourite way of ending a life, it was pretty brutal, but watching a soul being taken in mere seconds made him smile.

'We're here.'


	19. You're Out Of Time

CHPT19

Micro-Ice looked at him sceptically.

'We're where?'

Bleylock simply responded by walking slowly behind the quivering boy and binding his hands together. Micro-Ice felt the strange material fuse to his wrists tightly.

'What was the point in that? You've already got robots-'

He was cut off by a small shock to his wrists, burning the skin around the bindings. He let out a small yelp, that wasn't expected. The expression of the man in front of him holding a small remote was terrifying; he was completely calm, even smiling. He obviously enjoyed inflicting pain on others. Without another word, he was being dragged through some marshy land which didn't make trying to walk any easier. Every now and again, his wrists would be burnt, encouraging him to move faster. Apart from the teenager's painful grunts and hisses, the remainder of the walk was silent.

Bleylock stopped dead in his tracks and ordered the robots to drop the president's son beside him. Micro-Ice gazed in front of him; he was on a ledge of some sort. Peeking over his right shoulder, he caught a glimpse of what was at the bottom.

Large propellers swivelled around madly at the bottom of the gorge. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Sonny was frustrated; they were moving too slow for his liking. The Black Manta was one of those ships that needed to zip through the galaxy stealthily so the occupants weren't spotted, perhaps not the best ship for a mission such as this. The chief had ordered for one of the smaller, faster pods to be ready to go, it had been 15 minutes and he'd be damned if he waited any longer. He, Corso, Bennett and Artie would board the small ship and rescue Micro-Ice. The trouble was that Bleylock knew they travelled as a group; the four of them would embark on missions such as these together; he'd know if they were all there, if one of them were hiding behind a nearby building or rock. They needed the element of surprise on their side; that was the problem. The blonde man turned around when he felt a pair of eyes staring at the back of his head.

'D'Jok, what can I do for you?'

'Well, I was talking to Artie about the plan, and I-'

'You're staying here, D'Jok.'

'Dad, hear me out; I've got an idea.'

Sonny raised an eyebrow at his son; it couldn't hurt to hear what D'Jok had come up with.

'I'm all ears.'

'Well, Aarch always taught us to surprise our opponents; to bring in the most unexpected person to do the job, like to have a defender move up to offence.'

'And what has this got to do with the mission?' he was quite confused, he was trying to plan a mission to save the life of his son's best friend, and here he was talking about football?

'Well, Bleylock would obviously be ready for you, but he wouldn't expect someone to be there who has little or no experience with the Pirates, right?'

The leader thought about it; he had a point. If all of the Pirates he usually faced were standing in front of him, he wouldn't even give his surroundings a second look to see whether or not there were any other Pirates; that was Bleylock's problem, he was too sure he knew Sonny Blackbones and his men.

* * *

Micro-Ice gulped at the sight; he was pretty sure he knew what Bleylock was planning; and it didn't appeal to him one bit.

The green-eyed kidnapper saw the boy's worried expression. The sight made him laugh maniacally, this was going to be fun.

'That's right,' he then brought his thumb down on the remote, sending another harsh shock through the boy's wrists; his cry of pain gave him some amusement.

'Relax; it will all be over soon. It's just a shame that you won't live to see this revolutionary conference.'

Micro-Ice could feel his lip quivering; so many emotions were spinning around in his head; fear, anger, guilt, a strange sense of relief, he didn't know what to feel. The young striker could feel his heart pounding against his chest a million miles an hour.

_You gave it your best shot, Micro-Ice. Besides, you've lived a pretty good life; not many could say that they won the GFC as a teenager, could they? Keep your head up; don't let him get to you._

He lost all composure when he felt the collar of his shirt strangling him. Within seconds, he was being held over the edge by a metallic hand. The young teenager began kicking around him madly; he could feel warm liquid forming in the corner of his eyes, it was really happening. He was going to plummet to his early death.

Bleylock chuckled at the pathetic sight; he had this child at his mercy, able to end his life when it suited him. Playing God made him feel unbeatable. He was ready to drop the boy to a gruesome end when both of the robots were shot down.

'What is the meaning of this?' he demanded as he roughly placed the raven-haired boy back on the ground beside him. He was furious.

Four figures emerged from the shadows of the marshy forest armed with laser-guns, smoke oozed from them, indicating that they had shot the robots.

'Blackbones!' he exclaimed as he narrowed his eyes.

'Let the boy go, Bleylock.'

'Sorry, Sonny,' he said as he pulled his own gun out of his pocket and thrust it to his captive's temple, 'but I don't think I can do that.'

Sonny only had to look at the pleading look in Micro-Ice's eyes to know that he was terrified. One wrong move and that was it; they all knew it. Bleylock had clearly pulled the gun to up the pressure. The Pirate scowled angrily and lowered his gun. He had to stop this.

'He has nothing to do with this, Bleylock.'

'The president's son has nothing to do with this?' he laughed, not moving the weapon in his clutches.

'He's just a kid, Bleylock; he isn't a threat to you.'

'You must know me better than that, Sonny. Do I care if the people I kill are a threat to me or not?'

Sonny didn't know what to say now; Bleylock really didn't care. He had threatened D'Jok before; he wasn't a threat to Bleylock, now he was threatening to kill his son's best friend just because, like D'Jok, he was the son of his enemy? The leader lifted his gun to chest-level again.

'Drop the gun, Bleylock.'

'All it takes is one quick pull,' he said to himself, placing his finger on the trigger.

Micro-Ice whimpered and forced his eyes shut, this alerted Sonny as to what he was doing; even he was starting to worry.

'Drop it, Bleylock,' he ordered, readying himself to shoot.

'_One'_

'Drop'

'_Quick'_

'It'

'_Pull'_

'Now!'

***BANG***


	20. Unanticipated Hero

CHPT20

Micro-Ice heard a large blast followed by a sickening metal crunch. The young teenager cautiously opened his eyes to see Bennett and Artie running towards him. Looking over his right shoulder, he saw metal stained with a crimson liquid flying from the propellers. He turned his head to see D'Jok emerge from behind a large tree with a blaster gun in his hand; there was still smoke seeping from it. The athlete was in shock; had he just been saved from certain death by his best friend?

'Get him out of here,' Sonny called to his two Pirates. He looked at D'Jok and smiled; his plan had come together perfectly, though that was a little too close for his liking.

D'Jok simply nodded, not taking his eyes off his best friend. He desperately wanted to run up and hug him tightly, but Artie and Bennett had to do their job. His first time using a gun had resulted in ending the life of the man who had planned to take over the galaxy and saving the life of his unofficial little brother.

Bennett worked on removing the binds with a small laser; they resembled a thin, metal wire, but the Pirate knew all too well that this material could send an electric shock through your body; the perfect restraint. Within minutes, he was untied. Bennett looked at the boy's wrists; an imprint of the bindings had been made, his skin was red raw, small trickles of blood oozed out of the worst areas affected. Artie pulled his friend on to his back carefully; his Pirate instincts told him he was hurt. He could feel the little striker start to relax a little when he was safely on the Pirate's back. Without wasting any more time, the six of them made their way back to the small ship.

* * *

D'Jok was sitting with his head in his hands outside the medical room. They had returned to the Black Manta just under two hours ago and Dame Simbai was still giving Micro-Ice a good look over. He looked more scared than hurt, but, nevertheless, Simbai had to make sure he was okay. The striker looked up to see Corso sit himself beside him on the bench.

'D'Jok, a word?'

'Yeah?'

'What you did, D'Jok,' the dark haired Pirate started, 'it was very brave.'

'Thanks, Corso.'

Corso looked at the teenager beside him; if it weren't for his jet red hair and green eyes, he'd be Sonny's clone. Corso didn't usually know what to say in these situations, but he somehow found the words.

'He's fine, D'Jok. Sonny made sure he was in the best possible hands,' he said sympathetically as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, 'you saved his life, you're becoming more and more like Sonny every day.'

The redhead turned to face his father's friend; this was a side to him he had never seen before. Was this the respect Artie was talking about?

Before D'Jok could respond, the door opened slowly and Simbai stepped in to the corridor. The striker rose to his feet abruptly.

'How is he, Simbai?'

The medic looked at him; D'Jok was clearly concerned for the well-being of his best friend, she had grown fond of all of the young players and had gotten to know those they were closest to, D'Jok and Micro-Ice were rarely seen without eachother. She smiled before continuing.

'He's okay, D'Jok. You can see him if you like.'

He didn't need to be told twice; the striker barged in to the medical room to see a pair of grey-blue eyes looking at him. Micro-Ice was sitting on a hammock with his feet dangling off the edge, a brown blanket hung over his shoulders. D'Jok swallowed hard; he looked exhausted.

'How are you feeling?'

'Oh, you know, fresh as a daisy, so to speak.'

The older striker rolled his eyes, 'sarcasm now? Really?'

Micro-Ice shrugged his shoulders and took a small sip of the hot drink he had in his hands.

'What kind of potion did Dame Simbai give you then?'

The black-haired teenager raised an eyebrow and placed the hot liquid on the small table beside him, 'it's tea, D'Jok.'

'Oh, I see,' he muttered. He assumed that his best friend wanted to be alone, 'well, I guess I'll let you get some rest.'

'What, that's it? I go missing for two days and don't even get a hug?'

D'Jok looked at his smirking teammate before leaping on to his little brother, holding him against his chest tightly. He could feel him flinch slightly and pulled away quickly, grabbing the little striker's shoulders so that he was facing him.

'Did I hurt you?'

The younger of the two looked at him and laughed lightly as he slowly shook his head, 'no, D'Jok.'

D'Jok brought Micro-Ice in to another tight hug; he was so relieved that he was okay. If anything happened to him, D'Jok would have been devastated; he felt that it was his duty to protect the little striker.

'I really thought you were gone,' he whispered, it almost sounded like he was talking to himself.

'I'm alright, D'Jok,' the black-haired teenager smiled. He pulled away and leant against the wall, still smirking.

'So, err, what's the damage?' D'Jok asked, staring at his friend's bandaged wrists.

'Nothing serious,' he shrugged, 'I'll still be able to play better than you in the final.'

D'Jok managed a chuckle; even after all he's been through, he managed to maintain that sense of humour, 'we'll see about that.'

The dynamic duo raised their fists to each other, joining them. They were back together, ready to take on the cruel world together.

* * *

Simbai made her way towards Sonny's cabin with Corso; he had asked the medic to keep him updated on Micro-Ice's condition. The two entered the room to see Sonny going over strategies on how to stop the conference with Bennett, Artie and several other Pirates. His hazel eyes looked up to meet her blue eyes.

'Well?'

'He's okay, Sonny. He has a slight abdominal contusion, minor second-degree burns on his wrists and slight ligament damage in his right ankle.'

Sonny nodded and went back to his work. Artie blinked at the medic standing in front of him.

'In English?' the young Pirate questioned, smiling sheepishly.

'It means that he has a slight bruise on his abdomen, most likely from a violent kick or punch, but with a little rest and some anti-inflammatories, he'll be fine within a week or two. The burns on his wrists aren't serious, but they'll need time to heal, possibly leaving small scars, and his ankle is just sprained.'

'Oh,' he nodded, 'why didn't you just say that in the first place?'

'I'm a medic, Artie,' she smiled, 'it's part of my job to use confusing vocabulary.'

Sonny quietly sniggered; he and many of the other Pirates knew what these terms meant through experience helping their comrades on the battlefield, the younger Pirates weren't as experienced with the medical side of Pirate life.

'How do you plan to stop the conference, Sonny?' Corso spoke up as he made his way over to his leader's station.

'We'll need to get Micro-Ice back to Genesis; Zain will stop the conference if he knows he's safe.'

'We'd better get a move on, Sonny. We have about an hour left,' Corso stated as he looked at his watch nervously.

* * *

Micro-Ice looked at the white material covering his burnt wrists and sighed. Dame Simbai said that the wound could leave a scar; to Micro-Ice, it was like the universe was playing a cruel trick on him, making sure there was a constant reminder of the near-death experience he had encountered. He would never tell D'Jok it bothered him; there was no point in causing more unnecessary worry. D'Jok had given him a little time to rest after the reunion; but for some reason, the athlete couldn't sleep. Frustrated, he groaned and rolled on to his stomach burying his face in the pillow. He felt a hand resting on his shoulder, making him jump ten feet in the air.

'Relax, Micro-Ice.'

He turned to see the Pirate leader kneeling beside the hammock with a worried expression on his face. The teenager breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sat up to face him.

'Sorry, you scared me.'

Sonny simply nodded, 'you tend to be a bit jumpy when you've been threatened by Bleylock.'

'I know it's stupid, he's dead,' the youngest sighed, rubbing his wrists, they felt like they were on fire.

'It's completely normal, Micro-Ice. When we rescue our fellow Pirates from the clutches of Technoid, their reactions are pretty similar.'

'I find that hard to believe,' he laughed awkwardly.

'Even the strongest people in the galaxy have fears, kid.'

Micro-Ice didn't say anything; he just looked at the ground. He wasn't buying it. That moment, Bennett came through the door of the medical room.

'We're ready to go, Sonny.'

A pair of grey-blue eyes looked up at D'Jok's father in confusion, 'go where?'

Sonny took his hand and helped him carefully off the hammock, 'we're stopping this conference.'

* * *

Within twenty minutes, the four Pirates, D'Jok and Micro-Ice were racing through Space at incredible speed in one of the smaller, faster shuttles. The two footballers were gripping on to their seats for fear of crashing in to a floating asteroid, at such a speed; they'd be reduced to nothing but a pulp in mere seconds. The other four didn't seem to be bothered by the speed; not even Bennett, who was steering the ship.

'Sonny, we need a distraction of some sort, there's no way we'll make it in time!' Corso screeched over the sound of the blaring engine.

Sonny thought for a moment, 'D'Jok, give me your holo-watch.'

The older striker didn't hesitate and swiftly handed the device to his father, who scanned through his contacts and pressed down on the call button when he saw the desired name.

'Mei, it's Sonny.'

'Sonny? Why are you-'

'No time to explain, are you at the press conference that President Zain is about to hold?'

'Yes, he's about to come on the stage, why?'

'It is extremely important that this conference is stopped, so listen carefully to these instructions.'


	21. Battlefield

CHPT21

Sonny ended the call after giving Mei the instructions that could potentially save the galaxy. His hazel eyes looked around to see five pairs of eyes staring at him in shock.

'Dad, I know the whole galaxy could come to a stand-still… but this?'

Sonny turned away, 'it's the only way, D'Jok.'

Corso shook his head in fear, 'Sonny, you do realize the minute we land in Genesis-'

'I know that, Corso. But it's the best distraction for this kind of thing.'

'You know full well it won't end as a distraction; it'll be a full blown war by the end of the conference.'

'That's a risk we're going to have to take,' he sighed.

Artie looked at his watch; 15 minutes and they'd be at the conference. By that time, it would most likely be the site of a war.

* * *

Mei knew better than to argue with Sonny Blackbones, but this was seriously risky; it could put the lives of everyone in the room at stake. Swallowing her fear, she rose from her seat and left the other Snowkids to watch Benson introduce President Zain on to the stage. She shuffled cautiously over to the woman who had raised her and reluctantly tapped her on the shoulder.

'M-Mom?'

Her mother's blue eyes turned to look at the teenage girl behind her.

'Mei, honey. What's wrong?'

That was probably the last time she'd use such a calm tone that night. The model gulped and continued.

'W-well you see that man o-over there?' she stammered, pointing to Benson as she spoke.

'The president's adviser, yes.'

'Well, he-he, err-'

'Spit it out, Mei,' the aging woman was becoming increasingly impatient.

'He said I couldn't act to save a Cyclops,' she blurted out so quickly even she had a hard time making out what she had just said.

Her mother only blinked, her facial expression didn't change the slightest bit; but Mei knew that she was just contemplating what to say. The defender looked at her father's horrified expression.

'Mei, what are you doing?' he whispered in an urgent tone.

Before she could answer, her mother had stormed past her and made her way towards the stage.

* * *

'Hold on tight, boys. This is going to be rough,' Bennett warned as he put the shuttle in to landing mode.

The two footballers sat in the back with terrified expressions; they loved speed, they loved to defy gravity when playing football, they loved to jump from large hills on their magnet boards back on Akillian; but they didn't like the thought of crash-landing on to a very tall building in the heart of Genesis City. When the shuttle darted downwards to the roof of said building, the young footballers screamed at the top of their lungs.

'This is worse than the roller coaster at Lunar Genesis!' Micro-Ice shrieked as he saw the roof edging closer and closer.

* * *

Rocket was sitting with the other remaining Snowkids, Aarch and Clamp when he saw the furious mother storm past the guards and edge closer to the stage. He tapped Tia on the shoulder and, when he got her attention, pointed to said crazed woman.

'Isn't that Mei's mother?'

Tia's emerald eyes looked where Rocket was pointing; it was indeed Mei's mother, and she was going in for the kill.

'Uh oh.'

The irrational woman had ignored the desperate pleads of her husband at the back of the room. She stood in front of the podium where Benson was finishing off his introduction.

'You!' she screeched as she pointed an accusing finger at the well-dressed man, 'how **dare** you say that my daughter couldn't act to save a Cyclops!'

The four players' jaws hit the floor; this definitely wasn't good.

'Tia, quick, get out your camera,' Thran whispered.

'Why?'

'This could get really interesting.'

Tia lifted the infamous camera from her bag and aimed it at the stage.

Benson tilted his head in confusion, 'I said nothing of the sort.'

'Are you calling my daughter a liar?'

'Well, if she has accused me of such things, then yes.'

Those in the room familiar with Mei's mother froze; she wouldn't take this sitting down.

* * *

The shuttle had finally landed on the roof of the building that the conference was being held.

'Okay, we're going to have to split in to two groups; Corso and Bennett, you're with me. Artie, you've got Micro-Ice and D'Jok. Whoever finds the conference hall first, contact the others.'

'Can't we just stop and ask directions?' Micro-Ice questioned wearily as he jumped on D'Jok's back; they were still a little woozy from the flight.

'Micro-Ice, you're travelling with wanted Pirates, do you really think they'll tell you where the conference is?' the leader retaliated.

'Sorry.'

'Alright, Artie, you'll start from the bottom of the building, we'll take the top. Go!'

The two teams wasted no time and quickly went their separate ways.

* * *

The Snowkids were cowering under chairs in the grand hall; Mei had come running back to them when her mother had thrown the first punch.

'This is madness!' Rocket yelped as he pulled Tia closer to him.

Thran looked up just in time to see a large man take the chair he was under and run away with it, ready to cause some serious injury.

'We can't just hide here, we've got to do something,' Tia shrieked as she wriggled out of Rocket's grip and crawled in to the madness.

'Tia, no!' Rocket screamed as she was absorbed in to the sea of violence around her. He started to go after her when Aarch pulled his hand.

'Rocket, she's gone. We can't afford to lose you too,' he said sadly.

The remaining players lowered their heads. They heard the sound of someone tapping a micro-phone.

'Ladies and gentlemen, please!' Zain pleaded before seeing a stiletto hurtling towards him. He managed to avoid getting hit by the dangerous shoe and cowered behind the podium.

* * *

Tia staggered out of the room and shut the door behind her tightly. Panting, she slowly made her way down the corridor with her eyes wandering elsewhere when she bumped in to someone.

'D'Jok? Micro-Ice?'

The midfielder looked at her two teammates in front of her; Micro-Ice was perched on his big brother's back.

'Hey, Tia. Have you seen a Pirate?' D'Jok began.

'A Pirate?'

'Yeah, you know, he's wearing green clothes, brown hair, goes by the name Artie?'

'Sorry, can't say I've seen him,' Tia said apologetically,' are you alright, Micro-Ice?'

'I'm fine Tia, just a little banged up,' he smiled, 'do you know where this conference is being held?'

'You don't want to go in there, Micro-Ice,' she said shaking her head slowly.

D'Jok looked at her ruffled hair and scratched face, 'what happened?'

'Mei's mother,' she sighed, 'something about acting like a Cyclops, I don't know.'

The two boys nodded in understanding; Sonny's idea of a distraction had gone down just as they expected.

'We've really got to find that conference, Tia. Where is it?' D'Jok questioned impatiently.

'It's down the hall on the second right; you can't miss it, but there's no way I'm going back in there, you're on your own,' she expressed in a tired tone as she walked past them.

'Poor girl,' the short striker murmured sympathetically as they continued on their way.

* * *

Thran had crawled back to the others with great difficulty.

'Okay, I've found a fire exit not too far from here, but to get to it, we need to go right through the centre of the battle field.'

Aarch shook his head, 'no, it's too risky.'

'We have no other choice, Aarch,' Clamp spoke up.

The coach looked at his four remaining players and sighed, 'alright.'

Rocket borrowed one of Mei's spare hair bobbles to tie back his dreadlocks so they wouldn't be trampled on. Still grieving over the possible loss of Tia, he didn't bother taking any more precautions. Ahito had suggested tying string around their belt buckles so they would be able to stay together and tug on the line if they were in distress. They were ready to go when one of their strikers rolled in to their sector from the chaos.

'D'Jok!' Mei happily screamed as she hugged him tightly.

'Did you see Tia?' Rocket asked hopefully.

'Tia's fine, Rocket. She got out of the hall unharmed.'

The dreadlocked teenager threw his head back and breathed a sigh of relief.

Ahito shook his head in disbelief, 'that brave soul.'

Clamp noticed that he was alone, 'D'Jok, didn't Sonny come with you?'

'He's on his way; I managed to call him before I lost my holo-watch. Have any of you seen Micro-Ice?'

'Micro-Ice? D'Jok, he's been missing for a couple of days. Come to think of it, where have you been?' Thran answered with confusion.

'Not important,' D'Jok quickly said, 'he's here somewhere, but he fell off my back and now I can't find him.'

* * *

Micro-Ice crawled through the crowd quickly; if he didn't know this woman, he never would have believed that one person could start such a massacre. The young player managed to find the steps to the stage and slowly climbed them; with the exhaustion from trying to get through the crowd without being trampled on and his injuries, it felt like climbing Akillian Mountain. He had managed to get on to the stage with little difficulty now that he was out of the battlefield. The young striker saw a familiar man hiding behind the podium, but before he could call out for his father, Benson appeared in front of him.

'I don't think so, you little runt.'

Micro-Ice had had enough; no way was this man going to stop him now. He slowly rose to his feet just in time to see his father's adviser run at him. The rest was a blur to him, but somehow, Micro-Ice was sitting on top of the man with his fists pummelling the face of the traitor. When the first drop of blood was shed from the nose of Benson, the teenager was pulled away by the wrists, still struggling, he heard a familiar voice in his ear.

'Micro-Ice, why are you attacking my adviser?'

He spun around to see his father looking at him with a concerned expression. Without thinking, he tackled his father to the ground in a tight hug.

* * *

The twins were looking at the stage with their eyebrows raised.

'Well, that was certainly unusual,' the younger twin thought out loud.

'Did he just attack Benson… and then bear-hug the president to the ground?' Rocket queried, it was almost like he was questioning his own eyesight.

D'Jok looked at the stage and nodded. He had a warm smile on his face.

'D'Jok, do you know something?' Aarch demanded; he didn't like to be left in the dark when it came to his team's affairs.

Before he could answer, a blast was fired in the air, hitting the ceiling and causing the room to become silent. Corso stood in the doorway with his eye twitching while Sonny stood beside him with the gun in his hand, hood up and goggles on, protecting his identity.

President Zain took the opportunity to reach for the microphone.

'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending this…interesting event. I propose that this meeting be revoked effective immediately.'

This was met with mutters of agreement from everyone in the room as the battlefield was cleared of all of its warriors. Before long, the room was empty; chunks of hair and fabric made a blanket on the ground.

* * *

All four Pirates had manage to escape without being spotted and were invited to rest in the Snowkids' hotel. With only minor injuries, the Snowkids returned to the hotel to train; all but one Snowkid participated in the training. Micro-Ice nervously knocked on the door to Aarch's office on Genesis; the League wanted to speak to him about his illegal use of flux.


	22. A League Divided

CHPT22

Micro-Ice slowly entered the office to see six pairs of eyes staring at him. He gulped when he saw Adium, the League President, sitting in the centre of the desk with her arms folded. Around her, four men he had never laid eyes on sat around the desk; their gaze was focused on the small striker. Aarch was the final person he noticed; the coach was leaning against the right wall with a blank expression on his face, apparently Artegor, Clamp and Dame Simbai were taking care of the training today.

'Come on in, Micro-Ice,' Adium calmly said in her broad accent.

The striker nodded before placing himself on the chair opposite the league's officials. Forcing himself to look out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Aarch give him a reassuring nod. He then refocused his gaze on the woman sitting directly in front of him, knowing that she could end his football career on the spot. He nervously started to twiddle his thumbs, this was one of the habits that D'Jok hated.

'Now,' one of the men started as he leaned forward and clasped his hands together, 'are you aware of the rules regarding the use of flux?'

Micro-Ice felt this was a stupid question, but rather than arguing with the people who could kick him out of football permanently, he decided just to nod.

'Yes, Sir.'

'And I'm assuming that you have a very good explanation as to why you would illegally use the Breath of Akillian?' Adium intervened.

'You know, there _really_ is,' he answered awkwardly.

'And are you going to tell us what that reason might be?'

'I think I could explain that.'

The striker turned his head to see his father enter the room; he wore a worn-out expression as he edged closer and closer to the surprised representatives.

'President Zain?' Adium asked bewildered, 'of what do we owe this pleasure?'

'Like I said, I can explain why he used the flux.'

Micro-Ice bit his lip; he knew Sonny was going to talk to his father, but didn't expect him to come to the meeting. The president pulled up a seat beside his son and began to explain.

* * *

Artegor watched D'Jok lose yet another ball to one of the Xenon holo-players; he wasn't on his game today.

'D'Jok, pay attention!' he growled.

'Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I was supposed to perform miracles when I'm playing attack by myself!' he barked sarcastically.

'It's only temporary, D'Jok.'

The attacker snorted, 'and you know that for sure? There's no guarantee they'll let Micro-Ice play in the final.'

'Mei, move up to attack, I'm sure Thran won't be such a child about being alone on defence for the remainder of the training.'

'Sure thing, coach,' Mei mumbled; she was having a strange sense of Déjà vu that brought back unwelcome memories. She jogged up to Micro-Ice's usual position beside her boyfriend, who simply smiled weakly at her.

'Alright, let's start again,' the assistant coach said wearily as he removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. Clamp restarted the training programme and in minutes they were ready to go.

* * *

Mana-Ice and Maya were sitting in the hotel café having a cup of tea. They were lucky enough to be sitting at the back of the hall during the conference, so were able to make a quick getaway when things got ugly. Mana-Ice's mind was wandering elsewhere, which didn't go unnoticed by her best friend.

'Mana, are you okay?'

'Hm? Oh, yes, I'm fine, Maya.'

'It's about Micro-Ice, isn't it?'

'Is that your clairvoyance kicking in?' she smirked.

'No, I just know you too well,' she smiled as she tipped the liquid in the mug down her throat, 'he's fine, Mana.'

'I just want to see him.'

'They haven't let you see him yet?'

The brown-eyed woman shook her head; Zain had called and told her that Micro-Ice was safe, but some members of the league wanted to talk to him immediately; so she was unable to see her son.

'The league wanted to talk to him,' she shrugged as she finished off her drink.

'Why?' the purple haired woman asked with obvious concern in her voice, 'did something happen?'

'Zain wouldn't tell me, it sounded like he was in a hurry.'

* * *

The president finished off his explanation and the room fell silent; he told no word of a lie, but didn't feel that they needed to know about the striker being his son. The only sound that could be heard was the faint sound of the pen in Adium's hand tapping furiously against the paper in front of her. The striker looked nervously at his father, who shot him a reassuring smile.

'So, Adium,' Aarch started, breaking the eerie silence, 'what now?'

The burgundy haired woman looked up from her notes, her expression was unreadable.

'We need to deliberate on this matter further,' she simply said, 'if the three of you could step outside, we'll get back to you shortly.'

They all nodded simultaneously before slowly walking out of the office, all crossing their fingers that the five representatives would make the right decision.

* * *

Artegor was ready to hit his head repeatedly off the control panel on the holo-trainer. If he didn't know any better, he wouldn't have believed that this team had won the last GFC. He had seen first-hand how the Snowkids performed without Micro-Ice on the field, but it wasn't nearly as painful to watch when you were on the opposing side. Their offence was letting almost every ball fall in to the clutches of the Xenon holo-players. Ahito was barely able to stop the balls and was growing more and more exhausted by the excessive shots being taken by the over-grown reptiles.

'Clamp, get them out of there,' the assistant coach sighed.

Within minutes, the cube disappeared in to thin air and six young players stood before him waiting to be screamed at.

'Now,' he said calmly, though all he wanted to do was rip the skin off their faces, 'I don't know if you're aware of this; but that isn't how a champion team plays football.'

D'Jok opened his mouth to argue before Artegor shot him a deadly look.

'Listen to me, D'Jok. If you don't stop that cheek of yours, I'll bring Sinedd in to play alongside you,' he growled, pointing a finger at the surprised striker.

D'Jok narrowed his eyes, 'you can't do that, he's not even a Snowkid.'

'If you don't act like one, you won't be either.'

'You're not even my proper coach,' he mumbled as his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

The dark-haired man sighed before turning his attention back to the redhead in front of him, 'listen, D'Jok. I know what it's like to play without your best friend when you're so used to them covering you on the field, but you have to remember it's only for one day, there's no need to be so edgy.'

D'Jok seemed to vaguely understand where Artegor was coming from, but that didn't stop him leaving the room without a word or second glance.

Artegor groaned in frustration; that teenager was one moody fluxer today. If Adium didn't let Micro-Ice play, D'Jok would most likely continue to act like a Shadow in the morning. He just hoped they would make the right decision.

* * *

'We can't let him play in the final, he violated the rules!'

'But by the sound of it, he had no choice.'

'The rules are very clear; he admitted to us that he was very aware of what they dictated.'

'I don't believe that using your flux to signal for help is a reason for suspension, though.'

'We have no reason to doubt him.'

'Nevertheless, rules are rules.'

Adium watched the four men around her bicker, two were adamant on letting Micro-Ice play in the final; the others were still sticking to the rule book. She would have to be the tie-breaker.

On one hand, he did break the rules that were clearly laid out in each player's contract. Using flux outside of sports was absolutely forbidden, in normal circumstances, he would be packing his bags and boarding the next shuttle to Akillian. However, if President Zain's word was anything to go by, he was simply using the Breath to save his life. How could someone be penalised for that? Adium made two columns on the page in front of her; one in favour of letting him play, the other against it.

Once she had written down everything that she could think of, she saw that there was a clear winner. Without a second thought, she announced her decision to the other four representatives, pleasing two, but angering the others. After an hour of deliberation, she opened the door to the hallway where Aarch, Zain and Micro-Ice were waiting; ushering them inside, she spoke with little or no expression in her voice.

'We've reached our decision.'


	23. LastMinute Judgement Call

CHPT23

The three eager individuals warily entered the room, each less confident than the last. Micro-Ice was the least confident of all; he was unfamiliar with these people, and had heard that they were very harsh when it came to following their rules, rules of which he had broken; he had broken them for a good reason, but didn't think the league would be so lenient when it came to the excuse. Zain wasn't sure how to feel about the situation; defending his son, with his position in parliament, would certainly have helped. Even so, he had to respect the league's decision; it wouldn't look very good if he fired five of the most prominent members of the organisation because he didn't like their final decision. Aarch seemed rather calm; he knew Adium for a long time, the middle-aged coach was confident that he'd have his full team together for the final.

Adium's accurately trimmed eyebrows rose slightly, but her neutral expression didn't change apart from that small gesture. Aarch certainly hadn't lost his confidence, even after all of these years. She simply waltzed back to her seat and gently placed herself on the padded chair.

'Now, Micro-Ice,' she started in a tone that Micro-Ice didn't like; it was the same tone that Dr. Sebastian had used on Belinda in _Desperation in Genesis_ when he told her she only had 6 months to live; curse those soap operas. He snapped out of his daze when she continued in a monotone.

'You admitted yourself that you were aware of the League's rules, yet you didn't hesitate to use the Breath.'

_Smart one, Micro-Ice. Real smart._

'However, by using the Breath, you helped to bring down a dangerous criminal, saving your own life in the process.'

Adium looked at her list when she said it, wandering if she had made the right decision; many people would be angered. With a sigh, she pushed the paper to one side and looked at the nervous striker in front of her. She knew her first choice would make more sense to the league members, and more people in general, but, morally, was it the right decision?

She immediately changed her mind, discarding the list.

* * *

D'Jok stormed back to his room; he was known among the team for his temper, so was surprised to see their shocked expressions when he clashed with Artegor. Charging in to his room, he slammed the door and threw himself on to the bed, cursing Bleylock in to his pillow.

_He caused all of this._

_He just loved to destroy people's lives; including his own and Micro-Ice's._

_Even in death he left his suffering behind._

_The monster._

Eventually, he grew tired of just lying there, screaming hateful words about the former general in to a pillow. Within minutes, he allowed himself to fall asleep for the first time in days.

* * *

'D'Jok.'

The striker stirred in his sleep when he heard his name being called out gently, he could feel his shoulders being shaken.

'Hey, wake up.'

'Leave me alone, Aarch, I'll train later,' he groaned, trying to push the hand shaking his shoulders away, only to hear the voice lightly laughing.

'I'm not Aarch, buddy.'

He opened an eye to identify the intruder, only to see two pairs of eyes staring at him. Micro-Ice sat on the edge of the bed with his hand firmly rested on the striker's shoulders, while Mei was kneeling on the floor in front of his face, a warm smile on her flawless face.

'What can I do for you?' the redhead muttered.

'You could get up for a start,' his girlfriend smiled as she gently rubbed his hand.

He slowly sat up as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, 'what time is it?'

'7 o'clock,' she answered, 'Micro-Ice just got back from his meeting.'

Suddenly D'Jok was very awake, 'how did it go?'

The small striker shrugged, 'it went okay.'

'Not the answer I wanted, Micro-Ice,' he replied with a little agitation in his voice, 'can you play in the final or not?'

A smile crept on to the youngest teammate's face, 'I can play.'

The minute those words came out, he was silenced by a tight hug from his best friend. Micro-Ice could feel his lungs crushing.

_He couldn't be that happy?_

'Oxygen!' he managed to choke out, earning a snigger from the defender who was now perched on the bed.

* * *

Zain sat himself down on the cold chair, waiting for the warden to bring the traitor to him. He didn't lie to himself; he felt deeply hurt. This man was the one who had been advising him for over a decade, he considered Benson a friend; which was why he was surprised to see Micro-Ice driving his fists in to his face with fire burning in his eyes. Now he wished he hadn't trailed his son away from the criminal; he deserved much worse. The powerful man looked up to see the man in question being trailed in to the room and thrown on to the opposite chair; his nose had been bandaged up and he was now wearing the uniform of the inmates; once Sonny explained why the striker was punching the man, he had ordered his arrest right away. The warden was standing nearby in case violence erupted; this was rather unlikely. The two men stared at each other in silence for a few moments until Zain couldn't take it anymore.

'Why, Benson?'

The former adviser raised an eyebrow at this question. The striker's father didn't have the patience to play games.

'Why would you betray me like that?'

The other man sniggered; it was rather disturbing and sadistic. Zain was losing his cool very quickly.

'I'm sorry; do you think this is _funny_?' he spat.

'Oh, Zain. Isn't it?' he chuckled.

The president had no words, before he could find them, the defector continued.

'It took you years to figure me out. The minute that child was born, we were making plans to bring you and your _perfect_ galaxy down.'

'If that's true, why didn't you strike sooner?'

'We were going to, but then your wife took him back to Akillian. We jumped at the opportunity when I had his trust.'

'So, when you offered to protect him-'

'Just another phase of the plan.'

Zain looked at the man in front of him, and for the first time, he saw the face of pure evil, the flames of hell were practically dancing in his former friend's eyes.

'Do you know what you are, Zain?'

'Go on, enlighten me.'

'A_ fool_,' he practically spat the last word, 'a naïve, simple fool who can do nothing for himself. You needed Sonny Blackbones to hold your hand when that little twerp-'

'Little twerp? Those are brave words for a common criminal to be using towards the President of the Galaxy, especially concerning his son.'

'Well,' he simply said while leaning back on his chair, 'look who's all high and mighty all of a sudden. Has your modesty left along with the best adviser you've had?'

'You weren't just my adviser, I considered you a friend,' he said through gritted teeth, 'and to betray that trust, to join forces with _Bleylock_.'

'Ah, Bleylock. As long as he's around, your beloved son's done for,' he smiled.

'Oh, you didn't know?'

'Know what?'

'He's dead, Benson,' he said, enjoying the look of horror on the malicious man's face, 'Sonny and his men made sure of that.'

The room was silent once more; Benson realized that he was alone now. The plan had failed; instead of becoming one of the most powerful rulers the galaxy had known, he would stay in prison for the rest of his days, his very existence rotting away with him.

'I think it's about time you were back in your cell,' Zain said dryly, breaking the silence.

Benson shot him a dirty look before being taken away by the warden.

'Oh, and Benson,' he stopped mid sentence when the traitor's eyes turned to face him, 'be sure to watch the final, I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss my son's victory.'

* * *

Micro-Ice made his way down the corridor to the room of the person he had yet to see since his return, excitement bubbled inside him as he expected to receive a warm hug and cheerful 'welcome back'. After a few knocks on the door, it swung open to show Shiloh looking at him; but something in her expression made the small striker look twice at her.

For some reason, she looked angry.


	24. Insomnia

CHPT24

Micro-Ice gulped at the expression on the girl's face; suddenly, he wished he was still being trampled on at the conference.

'Shi, is something wrong?'

'Why do you think something's wrong?' she calmly said, though her irritated expression didn't change.

'Isn't there?'

She leaned against the doorframe as her golden eyes narrowed, 'you tell me.'

'Erm, yes?'

'You sound scared, Icy. Are you _scared_ of me?'

'Do you want me to be scared of you?' he asked in a shrill voice.

'Now, why would I want that?'

'I don't know, you haven't told me yet.'

'Why don't you come in and I'll tell you all you need to know?' she said in a sinister tone.

'You know what? I've got to-'

'**Get in**,' she demanded angrily as she grabbed her boyfriend's arm and pulled him in to the room, slamming the door behind him.

'Don't hurt me, Shi!' he yelped as he covered his face with his free hand.

'Why didn't you tell me about your father?' she whispered violently, not loosening her grip.

The striker lowered his hand and looked at her fearfully.

'How did you know?'

'Your parents were panicking about you right in front of me.'

'When was this?' he asked confused.

'Right after the semi-final.'

'Oh, yeah. That.'

'You **know** how I feel about politicians!'

'I'm sorry, I should have told you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It was supposed to be a secret, only D'Jok-'

'You told **D'Jok** before me? Are you cheating on me with him?'

'**D'Jok?** **No! I swear**!'

What she did next caught Micro-Ice off guard; she started laughing uncontrollably and released his arm, falling on to the bed in hysterics.

'Shi, I think you've lost it.'

'Y-you should've s-seen your face!' she managed between cackling fits.

The young athlete stood with his arms crossed, waiting for her to stop her laughter and explain her sudden bipolar symptoms. Eventually, the chuckling died down and the couple were able to speak.

'Are you angry with me or not?'

'Of course I'm not, I was just playing a little game,' she smiled, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she stood up and made her way over to the confused teenager.

'A little game? That was just mean. **Mean**,' he pouted.

She hugged him tightly and smirked, 'it wasn't mean, and you know that's how I show affection.'

'Still mean,' he playfully pouted.

'You big girl,' she laughed as she lazily rested her head on his chest, 'I missed you.'

'I missed you too,' he smiled, pulling her closer to him.

* * *

Micro-Ice continued to twist and turn in bed; the teenager couldn't sleep. He tried to sleep with the covers on, off, one leg under the duvet, lying on his back, his sides, his stomach; it was hopeless. It's not that he didn't want to, but any time he closed his eyes, he saw _him_. Only it wasn't… him. Something about the cloaked figure told Micro-Ice it was Bleylock, but it didn't have a face. The striker moaned in frustration and glanced at his bedside clock.

_Three in the morning. Great._

* * *

'So, Shiloh, that's an interesting name,' Rocket said as poured his Branflakes.

'You think?'

'You know, I've always wondered about that, Shiloh,' Thran chimed in, 'what's up with your name anyway?'

She shrugged her shoulders, 'there's not much to tell, my mother was a technician for the Shiloh Pirates before I was born.'

'So, you're named after the Pirates?' the Asian boy asked excitedly.

'Yep, Pirate by blood.'

'Well, that explains our Micro-Ice's obsession with them,' Tia teased, earning her a playful pout from the attacker.

'No, no. That obsession started when we watched a documentary on them in Additional Maths one day when Mrs. Devon was out sick,' she replied before drinking some apple juice.

'You took Additional Maths?' Rocket asked in amusement.

'He was in the front row, too,' Thran chuckled as he remembered the good old times in high school.

'I only picked it because there was nothing else!' the youngest teammate tried to defend himself.

'What did you pick then, D'Jok?' Mei asked curiously.

'Me and Ahito were living it up in Home Ec.'

'Really?' Mei asked, slightly scared.

'Well, we didn't cook; we had these other two guys in our group that did the practical stuff.'

'Ah yes, Pierre and Joel,' Ahito remembered.

'You know, their grades have been soaring since you left,' the mahogany haired teenager teased.

'Oh, ha ha,' the older striker laughed sarcastically as he took another bite of his toast.

'So, Micro-Ice, are you training with us today?' the brunette model questioned sweetly as she sunk her teeth in to her apple.

'I think so,' he smiled, 'it's just because you're lost without me, isn't it?'

He barely managed to dodge the croissant that came hurtling towards him.

* * *

Zain trudged back to his hotel room after a long night. The hurt he felt was replaced by anger and resentment towards his former friend; no remorse, no apology, nothing. The president had been taught a valuable lesson; be careful who you trust, they may end up stabbing you in the back. He had gone to Micro-Ice to ask if there was anything he could do to make it up to him.

_Zain was having problems sleeping; this wasn't particularly new to him, being such a busy man, the only time he could really think in peace was when he was alone in his bedroom, away from the conferences, his fellow politicians, the demanding press, everything. This didn't help his sleep pattern, though. Slowly, he rose from the bed and made his way to the small kitchen he-and all of the other parents- shared with the Snowkids, deciding that a glass of water might help. He noticed that Micro-Ice was sitting on one of the counters drinking a glass of milk._

'_You too, son?'_

_The teenager's head shot up to meet his father's gaze. Zain felt a twinge of guilt; it was his fault that his son was so jumpy, if he wasn't so naïve, he could have prevented the horrifying experience his son went through._

'_Oh, dad. It's just you,' he sighed with relief._

'_You know, there are chairs for a reason, son,' he chuckled as he approached the sink and allowed the water to hit the bottom of the cup before it was filled with the clear liquid._

'_I feel taller when I'm up here,' he shrugged before taking another sip of his milk._

'_Your Aunt Mona-Ice was always rather short too,' the authority figure laughed before drinking the cool water._

'_You say that like I should be blaming her for my height.'_

_Blame. Zain blamed himself for the way things turned out. He needed to make it up to his son._

'_Micro-Ice, what can I do to redeem myself in your eyes?'_

_The teenager looked confused, 'what do you mean? You've done nothing wrong.'_

'_I let this happen, son.'_

'_Stop blaming yourself, it's…weird.'_

_The older man raised an eyebrow, 'weird?'_

'_Yeah, like we're in a soap opera or something, you're the angst-ridden guy who's trying to blame himself for some other guy's mistake, you know, those annoying angst-y guys.'_

_He could only blink. What in the name of Cordale did that boy just say?_

'_Well… alright,' he said with some confusion._

'_But there's something you could do for D'Jok,' the striker smiled as he licked the milk from his lips._

'_D'Jok?'_

'_Yeah, he's always complaining about how he never gets to see Sonny because of the Pirates being wanted men.'_

'_Mhm.'_

'_So, if there's one thing you could do to make it up to me, as you put it, it would be to help them to be able to be more involved in each other's lives.'_

_He leaned back on to the wall opposite to his son, 'and how do you suppose I do that?'_

'_Immunity.'_

Micro-Ice was right, after all they did for him, they deserved to be free men, and they clearly weren't a danger to the galaxy, just the opposite, in fact. However, it wasn't that simple, if Technoid still existed, they'd never be able to live in peace. Suddenly, an idea sprung to his mind. He didn't care what time it was, this needed to be done now. He lifted the phone and began to dial.


	25. The Announcement

CHPT25

'Alright Snowkids, on your feet,' Aarch announced as he stood beside Artegor, ready to start the training.

'Me too, coach?' Micro-Ice asked hopefully as his teammates stood up from the orange benches in the training room.

The coach looked over at the medic who simply nodded, indicating that the attacker could train with the rest of the group.

'You too, Micro-Ice.'

The youngest Snowkid went to join his teammates in the centre of the room.

'Alright, I'm having Clamp put in the Xenons,' he told the seven youths as the infamous cube surrounded them.

'Aarch, listen to me when I tell you not to push Micro-Ice too hard, his ankle may have healed, but he's still in the recovery process,' Simbai warned as she stood behind her monitor.

'Just keep an eye on his health, Simbai. If you see anything alarming, tell me immediately.'

'Will do.'

* * *

D'Jok made his way to the centre of the field, ready for the kickoff. The Xenon clones appeared in their positions; their size stunned the champions.

'Please tell me you've exaggerated the size, Coach,' the Asian defender pleaded in to his earpiece as he looked up at the lizard's face.

_'No Thran, they're the right size, just stay in position.'_

'Hey, Micro-Ice, you'd better tell me if you're having any trouble,' D'Jok smiled.

'Don't worry captain, I will,' the younger striker winked as he prepared to get in position to intercept D'Jok's pass.

* * *

Zain had done all he could for Sonny and his men, now, all he had to do was deliver the message. He knocked on the chief's door and waited for a response.

'Can I help you?'

The politician jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice behind him. He quickly turned to come face-to-face with the Pirate chief.

'Ah, Mr. Blackbones,' he sighed with relief, 'you scared me.'

'It's the best part of being a Pirate,' he chuckled, making his way to the hotel room door and opening it.

'Did you want something, Mr. President?'

'Oh, yes. I needed to speak to you about matters concerning Technoid.'

His hazel eyes narrowed at that word; _Technoid_. The company that had destroyed the lives of many, took away his wife, ruined a chance of a normal life of fatherhood with D'Jok. The organisation that had tried to start a new flux war with the help of Bleylock, that had put a high price on his head, hoping that someone would turn the Pirate chief in, they had threatened his men on many occasions. In his eyes, Technoid was the worst scum of the galaxy. Why would Zain want to talk about the company that had threatened his own son with him?

'We can talk in here,' the blonde man sighed.

With a nod, the man with grey-blue eyes followed him in to the room, he knew all Pirates hated Technoid, but there was obviously more to it when it came to their leader. Once the door was closed, the president began to explain what the phone call he had made earlier meant for the Shiloh Pirates.

* * *

_'Mei, look up, he's coming your-'_

The defender had tackled the clone before Aarch could finish his sentence, kicking it to Rocket in the midfield.

_'Good work, Mei!'_

Rocket had managed to centre the ball to Micro-Ice, who just stood there blinking in to space, giving the Xenon defence an open ball, he had been rather distracted lately.

'Wake up, Micro-Ice!'

'Hm? Oh, yeah. Sorry Aarch,' he replied, shaking his head as he ran after the clone surrounded by the Breath.

* * *

'Our offence lacking,' Artegor sighed.

'It's still a fortnight until the final, we'll be fine,' Aarch reassured his assistant coach, though he wasn't very confident himself.

Dame Simbai was alerted to her monitor when Micro-Ice's screen started beeping, typing in several demands, she turned to the oblivious coach.

'Aarch, you need to pull Micro-Ice out.'

'What's wrong, Simbai?'

'His energy levels are dropping very quickly.'

* * *

Micro-Ice managed to run from the penalty area to the middle of the field before he had to stop and fill his lungs back up with air. The teenager threw his head back in frustration.

'Hey, Micro-Ice, are you alright?'

The younger striker looked up to see a pair of green eyes looking at him with concern.

'I'm wiped out, D'Jok,' he panted

Micro-Ice felt his legs buckle beneath him, but before he could hit the ground, he managed to fling an arm around D'Jok's shoulders for support.

'Is this going to be a regular occurrence? You seem to be collapsing a lot lately,' the redhead chuckled.

He shot his best friend a threatening glare before the pitch disappeared around them, they were in the training room in seconds. Strolling through the sea of concerned looks, with D'Jok's help, he slumped on to the hard wood and buried his face in his hands.

'Micro-Ice, what did I tell you about pushing your limits?'

The teenager looked up to see a strict looking Simbai hand him a glass of water.

'Be careful?' he responded sheepishly as he took a small sip.

'That's right. And were you careful?'

'No?'

'That's right. Now, drink that and go back to your room.'

'But-'

'Micro-Ice, what happened?'

The young player looked up to see his father storm towards him with worry in his eyes. _Oh brilliant_.

'Micro-Ice, are you hurt?' he asked with urgency in his voice, 'why do you look so pale, do you need to go to the hospital? I can buy you one, I-'

'I'm fine da- ah, dude,' he quickly corrected himself, 'I'm fine.'

The Snowkids looked confused, bar D'Jok, Tia and Rocket, who looked rather unaffected by this outburst.

'He's rather fond of these practice sessions, isn't he?' Clamp whispered to Aarch, who was still wondering why Micro-Ice would call the president_ dude_.

'Are you sure?' the concerned father asked as he put a hand over the boy's forehead, 'you're burning up.'

'That's just because my fringe covers my-'

'Nope, you're not fine. Dame Simbai, run a blood test on this young man.'

This went on for around ten minutes before the teenager managed to assure his father that he was, in fact, fine. The white haired politician then went on to tell the players and staff to watch the 7 o'clock news for an important announcement, the real reason he interrupted the training session.

* * *

The news had just started, making everyone in the Snowkid's living room; players, parents and staff, turn to look at the screen.

_'On tonight's news, dear holo-viewers, we have an exciting statement from President Zain himself, let's go live to Genesis Stadium, where he is about to deliver this announcement.'_

Immediately, the camera switched to an image of Micro-Ice's father standing behind a podium, raising a hand to silence the questions from the press.

Everyone in the room watched closely, the last conference this man had held ended in a blood bath, though the chances of this happening again were slim, especially considering that Mei's mother was with the crowd of the Snowkids' supporters, they were interested to see the outcome.

The man on the holo-TV tapped the microphone and began to speak.

_'Inhabitants of the Zaelion Galaxy and beyond. I'm sure many, if not all of you, are aware of the company Technoid.'_

D'Jok shared a confused look with Micro-Ice. What was so special about an announcement concerning Technoid? They were in the news almost daily.

_'Following some unforgivable actions on Technoid's part, we, the government, have been forced to take on some rather drastic measures. This company has now been placed under the direct control of the government, therefore, we will be able to closely monitor their actions hereafter.'_

The viewers were even more confused now, but no one exchanged a word, only confused looks.

_'The first official action we have taken to improve this company will improve the lives of many, the lives of the Shiloh Pirates in particular, for they have greatly aided in the protection of, not only my family, but also for the well-being of this galaxy.'_

D'Jok held his breath, hoping that this was going where he thought it was.

_'From this moment on, every Pirate is a free man.'_


	26. Watch Your Tongue

CHPT26

Zain hopped off the stage after answering as many questions as he could; somehow, despite his experience in answering these questions as vaguely as humanly possible, it had slipped out that he had a famous son, though he refused to reveal Micro-Ice's identity. The man was eager to get back to the hotel and rest. He knew that there was a high possibility that he had just made a new batch of enemies, but what was important now, was that the galaxy was still stable, and he had the Pirates to thank for that. He looked at the Pirate leader who had been waiting for him to finish off so they could share the drive home.

'Your wanted poster will be discarded completely first thing tomorrow morning, Mr. Blackbones.'

'Thank you, Sir. You have no idea how much this means for my men and I.'

'Consider it a way of thanking you for saving my son's life.'

The Pirate nodded as the two men hopped in to the President's holo-car and made their way back to the hotel.

* * *

Joyful screams could be heard all over Shiloh that day; the Pirates were finally free, able to walk the streets without the fear of being captured or killed, able to visit their loved ones without putting them in danger. The mood was particularly ecstatic among Sonny's three best friends back at the hotel. The three Pirates had decided to celebrate in the hotel bar when they heard the news. When Corso noticed that Sonny had arrived, he called him over and had the bar man bring the chief a pint.

'Well Sonny, how do you feel now that it's all over, eh?' the second-in-command asked as he patted his friend on the back.

'Pretty good, Corso,' the blonde man smiled as he sipped his drink.

'Do you know what prompted him to do it, Sonny?' Bennett questioned.

'I do, Bennett. A certain politician's son thought I should spend more time with D'Jok.'

'Who?' Artie asked excitedly before being hit on the back of the head by the grey-eyed Pirate.

'Who do you think, Artie?' Corso responded with an irritated tone.

'Micro-Ice?'

'Well done,' he sighed before taking a large drink of his beer.

Sonny could only laugh at the scene unfolding before his eyes; his second-in-command could have quite a temper when it came to the youngest Pirate.

'Corso, my old friend, I propose a toast,' he said holding up his drink, waiting for the three others to do the same, he continued, 'to immunity, here's hoping it never ends.'

'To immunity!'

* * *

D'Jok played the news announcement over again on his laptop; it had been on the internet for a few hours, and already it had thousands of hits; this was big news throughout the entire galaxy. The redhead scrolled through the comments.

_Like this comment if you fell off your chair watching this! (268 like this)_

_Does this make President Zain a Pirate? (122 like this)_

_Anyone have any theories on who his son is? (58 like this)_

_I was thinking maybe Jacob Takeo from Flux Wars 2? I mean, they both look alike. (168 like this)_

_Really? Caleb Healey from the Z-Guys springs to mind. (103 like this)_

_Holy Smog, maybe you're right! (45 like this)_

D'Jok shook his head and tutted; the only similarity these people had to Micro-Ice and his father were black hair; the people who posted these comments were pretty dim. How did they not think of Micro-Ice, it wasn't as if they had never seen him before.

'Hey Micro-Ice!'

'Yeah?' the younger striker asked as he emerged from the bathroom drying his hair furiously with a towel.

'Come take a look at this, it looks like you've got some famous siblings,' he laughed.

'They've already started guessing? Looks like I owe Tia a soda,' he laughed, making his way over to D'Jok's bed and looking at the comments.

He had to agree with D'Jok on this one; these people were pretty stupid if they hadn't already guessed who it was correctly; he had been told numerous times that he was the spitting image of his father. Some people had actually gone as far to have put his father's picture through one of those 'your celebrity twin' websites, and yet, every guess they scrolled through was wrong.

'Oh, come on, I'm better looking than all of these people combined!'

'If you say so, Micro-Ice.'

'I mean, Gabriel Kevins? That's just insulting.'

'He's a good rapper,' the number nine laughed.

'No he's not! When it comes to rapping, it's all about Skittle!'

The two teenagers continued to defend their favourite rappers-even though they weren't so fond of that music genre- until D'Jok got a call from Sonny, asking the teenager to come to his suite for a little father-son bonding.

* * *

Sonny opened the door just in time to be hugged violently by his son. The chief smiled and protectively wrapped his arms around D'Jok.

'It's over, Dad. We can be a normal family,' the redhead muffled with his face buried in the large red coat.

Sonny's hazel eyes looked down at his boy; they'd probably never be a normal family; D'Jok was a star footballer who would be bombarded by fans any time he walked out the door and Sonny would still have enemies, no matter how hard Zain tried. But as a free man, he could see D'Jok pretty much on a daily basis, go to all his matches, be the father he so desperately wanted to be all those years when he thought that he had perished with his mother. In a sense, they would be a regular family, maybe not a family that most would describe as normal, but they would be normal in their own way.

'Yes, D'Jok, we can.'

Once the warm welcome was out of the way, Sonny and D'Jok sat down to watch_ Flux Wars 2_, when Jacob Takeo appeared on the screen, D'Jok laughed to himself, causing Sonny to shoot him a strange look as he swallowed a handful of popcorn. D'Jok looked at his father and decided that he should probably offer him an explanation so he didn't think he was crazy.

'Me and Micro-Ice were looking through people's theories on who President Zain's son was, and Jacob Takeo was a popular guess.'

The blonde haired man looked at the screen and laughed at the comparison. Sure, he had black hair, but he also stood at 6ft tall and had the figure of a body builder, and Micro-Ice was definitely not a 6ft tall body builder. There was something the Pirate chief wanted to tell D'Jok, so decided he had better tell him now, he had learned over the years that you can never be certain that you'll have your loved ones with you long enough to tell them everything you want to; he had learned that the hard way with D'Jok's mother, if he had known how soon she'd be taken away, he would have held on to her tight and never let her go, tell her how he loved her more than life itself every second of the day. You really don't know what you've got until it's gone.

'You know, D'Jok. I'm proud of you,' he started, making sure he had his son's attention before he continued, 'it's because of you that Micro-Ice is still alive and Bleylock has been defeated for good.'

'Hey, I had a bit of help,' he winked.

'You can't be serious for very long, can you son?'

'It's part of my charm,' he grinned, then he realised that he was turning in to that little clown he shared a room with.

'It was actually Micro-Ice's idea to grant the Shiloh Pirates immunity as a thank you for saving his life.'

'Micro-Ice?' he questioned with a stunned expression.

'Mhm, his father told me that he wanted to help you have a better relationship with your old man, so he bought Technoid, set the arrested Pirates free and granted us immunity,' he smiled before turning his attention back to the movie, 'you really know how to pick your friends, son.'

'Yeah,' he replied, staring in front of him, not paying any attention to the screen.

* * *

'Micro-Ice!' D'Jok called as he sprinted down the corridor after the movie had finished, 'Micro-Ice, Sonny told me why your dad granted them immunity, I just wanted to-'

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that all the players, parents and staff were still gathered in the briefing room, judging by the deathly silence, they had obviously heard. They shot him a surprised look at the revelation before turning to the youngest Snowkid sitting on the coffee table holding a glass of lemonade, the teenager looked defeated. Once D'Jok had realised what he had done, he quickly slammed his hand over his mouth, careful not to give anything else away. His younger brother began to slowly shake his head.

'Nice one, D'Jok.'


	27. Damage Control

CHPT27

**I apologise in advance if this seems a little weird, but I'm hopped up on painkillers ^^' Nevertheless, enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Micro-Ice grabbed D'Jok's wrist and quickly walked through the overwhelming number of questions thrown at him.

_Why didn't you say anything?_

_How long have you known?_

_Why aren't you living with him?_

Once they were in the safety of their hotel room, Micro-Ice locked the door and turned to face D'Jok, who, for the first time since he'd known him, looked scared of the little striker.

'D'Jok,' he said simply with little expression in his voice.

'Yes?' he winced, waiting for his best friend to give him a good, hard punch.

'Can I just ask what part of you thought it was a good idea to run down the corridor screaming about my parentage?'

'Well, I wasn't really thinking. What does it matter? You're safe and the Pirates-'

'You think that just because your father has immunity that the old Technoid employees won't try anything?' he said through gritted teeth, though had come out louder than he would have originally planned.

'Erm-'

'D'Jok, there's _always_ going to be people after the Pirates, me and my father, and now you've just given away a secret we've tried to keep for over 10 years, do you know what you've done?'

'I'm sorry, Micro-Ice. I really didn't mean it! I was just trying to thank you for helping my dad get immunity!'

'I know you didn't mean it,' he sighed, throwing himself on the bed and moaning in to a pillow.

Then, a thought occurred to D'Jok; he wasn't angry, he was scared. Scared of going through that ordeal again, scared of not making it out alive this time. That's all he was at the moment; a scared boy who didn't want to re-live, what was probably, the most terrifying experience of his life.

'Micro-Ice, Bleylock can't hurt you anymore,' he gently said as he sat beside him on the bed.

'There was more to Technoid than Bleylock, you know,' he moaned, his voice was muffled.

'We won't let them hurt you.'

'And what about you?'

'What about me?'

'You're probably in for it too, you know. Being Sonny's son and all.'

'Come on, Micro-Ice, my dad's watching me all the time,' suddenly, he had the strange feeling that he _was_ being watched. With a sigh, he stood up and faced the air vent.

'Dad, if you're in there, get out.'

There was a moment of silence before shuffling could be heard in the vent, and in seconds, Sonny and Corso jumped out and in to the room.

'Hello again, D'Jok,' Sonny smiled sheepishly before turning to the small lump on the bed, 'Micro-Ice.'

'Hey,' he replied as he waved without lifting his head.

'So, what are you boys arguing about, hm?' Sonny laughed.

'Well, I, err-'

'He blew my cover to everyone on the floor.'

Sonny's smile dropped immediately, he looked over at Corso, knowing that he would make a show of it all. The dark haired pirate's good eye narrowed before twitching, the early sign that he was going to explode. The blonde haired Pirate noticed that the big vein on Corso's forehead was beginning to grow in size.

'How exactly did you do that?' Corso asked through gritted teeth.

'It's quite amusing, actually,' the youngest in the room butt in.

'Shut_ up_, Micro-Ice,' the redhead pleaded, his gaze didn't leave the vein that was almost certainly going to pop at this rate.

'Well, son, what did you do?'

As D'Jok began to explain the whole situation, the two Pirates were coming closer and closer to strangling him; Sonny actually had to stop his right-hand-man from launching himself at the boy when he mentioned how all of the parents were present at that time. Once he finished his explanation, D'Jok took a small step backwards in case Corso tried to kill him.

'So, what now?' Micro-Ice, who was now sitting cross-legged on the bed facing them, asked the Pirate chief.

'Well, the damage has been done, I'm afraid,' the hazel eyed Pirate replied while stroking his chin, 'we could try erasing their memories.'

'Dad, would that work?'

'It just might. Corso, you take Micro-Ice and D'Jok with you to do some damage control, I'll make sure none of the old Technoid employees that work here find out.'

* * *

Mei had just changed in to her pyjamas when her mother stormed in to the room, determination written all over her face. Mei knew that look; she was going to tell her about more sponsorships or commercials.

'Yes, Mom?'

'Mei, I've just come up with the perfect publicity stunt for you!'

'No more commercials,' she said firmly.

'No, this is even better than a commercial!'

Now the defender was curious.

'What is it then?'

'That boy Micro-Ice, the President's son. I want you to marry him!'

Mei looked at the crazed woman before bursting in to a fit of laughter, the very idea that she would marry Micro-Ice was absurd to her; surely her mother couldn't be serious.

'What's so funny, Mei? This is a golden opportunity for you!'

She looked in to her mother's cold eyes. She was deadly serious.

'What about D'Jok? I thought you liked me dating the star player.'

'Think about it, Mei! You could be a striker again, not to mention that with the kind of money his father has, you'll be living the life of luxury! It's perfect!'

Knowing that she couldn't talk some sense in to her mother, she casually strode out the door, not looking her in the eye. No way was that self-conceited mother of hers going to win this time.

* * *

Corso and the two athletes marched in to the briefing room, only to see that it was virtually empty, only Tia and Shiloh had remained behind to clean up the mess of cups, empty bottles and dirty paper plates.

'Tia, Shi, where is everyone?' Micro-Ice demanded, annoyed that their plan was crumbling to pieces before they could even put it in to action.

'They left,' Shiloh shrugged as she threw another cup in to the bag, 'the party just got plain boring after D'Jok's little slip of the tongue.'

'Great,' Micro-Ice sighed as he threw his hands in the air, 'not _only_ did you blow my biggest secret to the biggest loudmouths in this galaxy, but you've ruined the party too? I hope you're happy!'

'The party? That's what you're worried about?' D'Jok asked with some confusion.

'Will you two give over?' Corso snapped, making the two teenagers zip their lips and look at the Pirate, who was holding up a memory-erasing device to the girls.

'There's no point, Corso, they've known for a while,' Micro-Ice said when he noticed the Pirate's intentions.

The grey eyed Pirate placed the device back in his pocket and turned to the two teenagers.

'Well, what are we waiting for? We have to find the others so this stays within the hotel!'

With that, they took off running, Micro-Ice had to stop to catch his breath, Corso had stopped with him, but an oblivious D'Jok kept on running. As he swerved around the corner, D'Jok collided with someone, knocking them both to the floor.

'Hey, watch where you're-' he stopped mid-sentence when he realised who it was, 'Mei!'

He helped his girlfriend up from the floor and dusted her off.

'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine D'Jok,' she smiled, 'but you should really watch where you're going.'

'Sorry.'

As Corso went for the device again, Micro-Ice stopped him.

'It's alright, Corso, Mei won't tell anyone.'

He nodded and, yet again, placed it back in his pocket. He had been acquainted with Mei; Sonny had spoken very highly of the young woman and had sent him to ask her about D'Jok from time to time. If Sonny said she could be trusted, that was good enough for him.

The defender looked behind her boyfriend to see two dark haired figures staring at her; she recognised both of them instantly.

'Corso, Micro-Ice, hey,' she smiled.

'Hey,' they replied simultaneously.

'So, Micro-Ice, President Zain's your father,' she said awkwardly while nodding, 'interesting.'

'It's not that interesting when you think about it,' he shrugged.

'Where are you going anyway?' D'Jok intervened.

'Just getting away from my mother, she's driving me crazy.'

'Your mother,' Micro-Ice repeated, then a thought hit him like a punch to the face, 'where is she, Mei?'

'I don't have a clue, why?'

'Sorry, no time to chat,' Corso jumped in, realisation dawning on him; her mother was the biggest gossip-spreader in the galaxy, 'we've got to get moving!'

With that, the three of them took off towards the elevator and made it to the front door of the hotel before flashes blinded them. The journalists had been waiting for them outside the hotel. Through the merged voices, they managed to make out a few words.

_'Micro-Ice… Father… President… Feel?'_

The youngest striker quickly closed the door and turned to the two before him, his face had a worried expression painted on it as he slammed his back against the only barrier keeping the press out. He could feel a small bead of sweat making its way down his paling face.

'We_ may_ have a problem.'


	28. Newsworthy

CHPT28

Micro-Ice sat on his bed with his arms crossed, he was scowling at D'Jok, like Sonny and Corso. The redhead bit his lip as he scanned through the reactions.

'D'Jok,_ what_ were you thinking?' Sonny asked his son, definitely not amused.

'I wasn't?'

'Exactly. Now, what are you going to tell President Zain when he walks through that door?' he questioned angrily, gesturing to the bedroom door.

'That I'm sorry?'

'And?'

'It won't happen again?'

'It doesn't _need_ to happen again,' Micro-Ice mumbled.

Sonny ignored this and continued.

'You realise that there is no way to undo this, D'Jok?'

'I know,' he sighed.

'And do you know how many people you've put in danger?'

'A lot?'

'Yes, D'Jok. A lot; including yourself and Micro-Ice.'

'I know.'

There was silence for a few brief moments before the father of the youngest teammate entered the room. His gaze immediately fell on D'Jok, who gulped.

'D'Jok,' the powerful man began as he stood in front of the striker, 'I heard about your _little blip_.'

'I'm sorry, Sir,' he said, lowering his head.

'Well, I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now,' the president responded as he sat beside his son on the opposite bed, 'we can only hope that the Cordalian Army can find and arrest Duke Maddox before anything serious happens.'

'This is all becoming a bit repetitive,' Micro-Ice thought out loud.

* * *

Shiloh's eyes looked up from her bowl of Doritos when she heard Micro-Ice's name being mentioned on the holo-TV.

_'Dear holoviewers, the biggest news of the evening is that Micro-Ice, striker of the GFC champions, the Snowkids, is rumoured to be the son of President Zain! We have been unable to question either on this news story.'_

While the Snowkids around her listened attentively, she simply scoffed, this was nothing more than an invasion of yet another footballer's personal life.

_Must have been a slow news day._

'Who told her?' Thran wondered out loud.

'I haven't a clue,' Mei responded, but she had a funny feeling she knew the culprit.

'_I'm standing outside the Snowkids' hotel, as are many other journalists hoping to question either father or son on-'_

The camera turned to see D'Jado try to shoo the press away from the hotel, claiming that they were disrupting the guests. Even the persistent press couldn't barge past the irritated man and security droids, however useless those robots may be.

Tia stood up to look out the window and, sure enough, there were journalists reluctantly waddling away from the hotel. The white haired teen shook her head slowly; those people never gave up when there was a fascinating story floating around; they would be back soon enough.

'Poor Micro-Ice,' she said quietly to herself.

'What was that, Tia?' Rocket called over, looking away from the screen for a brief moment.

'I'm just thinking how crazy this whole thing is,' she responded while sitting beside her dreadlocked boyfriend.

'It'll blow over eventually.'

'I don't know, Rocket. Something's not right.'

'What do you mean?'

'He's been pretty distant since we got back from Cordale.'

'He'll be fine,' he said before turning his attention back to the holo-TV.

Tia sighed; before Netherball, he would have gone straight to Micro-Ice's room to ask him if he was okay, offer advice and someone to talk to. If she ever got her hands on Sinedd, the one who introduced him to that damned thing, she would choke the flux right out of him. She shook these thoughts from her head and pretended to listen to Callie Mystic rant about her little teammate.

_'As you all know, there was talk of a permanent suspension from the GFC for the Snowkids' striker for the illegal use of flux, but the League ruled in his favour, my sources say. Perhaps there's some bias going on within-'_

'Who the _hell_ are her sources?' Thran speculated.

* * *

Micro-Ice turned off the holo-TV; every news channel had something about this _scandal_ on it. He sat up when the door opened.

'Hey Sweetie, I brought you something to eat,' Mana-Ice smiled as she set the tray of party food down beside her son.

'Thanks Mom,' the teenager replied with a grin on his face, he didn't even notice how hungry he was.

'Tell me, Honey, are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' he lied, taking a small bite of a cupcake.

'Micro-Ice, I know you better than anyone; I know when you're lying.'

'Mom-'

She raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a look that, since he was a very young boy, made him tell her what was bothering him. She smiled when her only son let out a deep sigh and placed his bun on the tray.

'How do you do that?'

Mana-Ice ruffled his hair and laughed lightly, 'I'm your mother, and I know you more than you know yourself.'

The teenager rubbed his head before looking at his mother; many people said that he got his happy-go-lucky attitude from her, this was his usual personality, but recent events had triggered the personality that was more common amongst his father; paranoid, stubborn and short-tempered.

'I'm scared,' he admitted, looking down as he said it, his mother was one of the only people in the galaxy he could talk to about anything that bugged him.

Her brown eyes looked at her son, who very much reminded her of when he was a timid little five-year-old. Over the years, he had learned to come out of his shell, eventually becoming the well-known joker of the infamous Snowkids. By the looks of it, they were back to square one.

'It's okay to be scared, Sweetheart.'

'No, it isn't. No one would take me seriously if I told them.'

'I am, Honey, so is D'Jok, your father, Sonny, Corso; everyone you've told.'

'That's different, the others wouldn't understand.'

'Have you even seen them since Callie Mystic's_ little show_?' she asked, feeling some anger towards the journalist's attack on her son.

'Heck no,' he replied immediately, shaking his head, 'I'm planning to avoid them as long as possible.'

'Micro-Ice, don't shy away from your team, you can't go back to being that frightened little boy you were all those years back when we first moved to Akillian. Open up to them, even if it's just Aarch or Clamp, but please don't hide your worries.'

He looked thoughtful for a moment; he knew his mother was right, maybe he should talk to his coach, perhaps his medic. Going to Artegor probably wasn't the best idea in the world; he was becoming increasingly stressed as the next match drew closer and closer.

'Alright Mom, I'll talk to Dame Simbai later.'

'That's what I like to hear,' she smiled warmly as she hugged her son, 'I promise you'll feel better, my darling.'

* * *

Benson lay on the cold, metal slab that the prison guards called a bed. He had heard that Zain placed Technoid under the control of the government so they could monitor their actions. He knew that the president would try something like this, same old Zain; always trying to keep his precious galaxy stable. He had Sonny Blackbones, the Pirate leader, on his side now. This would have made things harder under normal circumstances, but Technoid knew Sonny, they knew Zain. The two men had one common weakness.

Their sons.

The prisoner smirked to himself as he thought about what this meant for himself, Technoid and the man who had sent him to rot in this hellhole.

_Time for Plan B._


	29. The Letter

CHPT29

**First of all, thank you all so much for 100 reviews on my first fan fic, you have no idea how happy I am! :D Love you guys!**

* * *

Micro-Ice shuffled along the corridor, looking at the ground as he walked.

_You were stupid to think they wouldn't find out. Stupid._

Six pairs of eyes looked at him as he entered the room. The youngest striker slipped his hands in to his pockets and nervously looked at his teammates.

'I guess I owe you an explanation?'

'What do you mean?' Thran asked his little friend.

'I should have told you guys that he was my father,' Micro-Ice answered as he clicked his feet together, looking at them like they were part of an interesting TV show.

'Hey, it was your choice whether to tell us or not,' Rocket said as he walked over to the upset striker and laid a hand on his shoulder, 'all that matters now is that we can help you out if it gets hard.'

'Don't be afraid to come to us if there's a problem,' Tia smiled.

'And if you're going back to that house, we'll gladly tag along,' Thran laughed, as did the six others.

'Don't worry, we can go back right after we win the cup, apparently you lot aren't the worst house guests he's ever had.'

'We're too charming to be a burden,' D'Jok winked.

* * *

Mana-Ice and Shiloh watched the team joke around with the teenager who, just an hour ago, refused to come out of his room out of fear of being judged by his teammates.

'See Shiloh? I told you I could get him to come out.'

'You're his mother, of course he would listen to you.'

'I'll teach you how to make him do whatever you want with one look, it's a life-saver when you come home from work and don't feel like cleaning the house,' the older woman smirked.

'Oh, please do. That boy is a lost cause when it comes to following instructions.'

'You're telling me; once, I asked him to run to the shop and pick up some milk, he came back three hours later after playing football with D'Jok. He didn't even buy the milk.'

'That's nothing; one time, Mr. Quinn asked him to print something from his computer while he went to help Mark with saving something, and he managed to short-circuit every computer in the IT suite.'

'Ah yes, I remember getting a phone call telling me about that. What was he suspended for, a week?'

'Ten days.'

'Oh yes, thank you, dear.'

'You must be thinking of the time he lost every dictionary in the English department.'

'I still don't understand how he did that.'

'No one does, to this day, they're still missing.'

'Didn't he give one teacher chest pains?'

'Yep, Mrs. Devon. She was out for weeks.'

'Well, it's a good thing he's out of education now, who knows what he would have done?'

'I think it's best for everyone that we don't think about it.'

* * *

Micro-Ice smacked his head against the bed frame; these sleepless nights were becoming increasingly irritating, especially with the GFC final fast approaching. He reached in to his drawer in hope of finding something that would send him to sleep. _Cheese puffs, no… Hair gel, no… Envelope, n- wait, an envelope?_

The teenager turned on the bedside lamp and looked at the small, white pocket addressed to him. He opened swiftly and pulled out a typed letter and began to read.

_At this point, we are aware of the entire Zaelion Galaxy's knowledge about your father; obviously, this puts you in tremendous risk. You may remember being injected with a purple liquid during your captivity, you will have heard of this substance; which is potentially fatal, especially considering it had been mixed with growth hormones. In a matter of weeks, this substance will have taken over most, if not all, cells in your body. If you wish to live, you must convince your father to hand control of Technoid back to Duke Maddox. You know yourself about the dangers of Metaflux. We will be watching you, Micro-Ice, so I wouldn't advise doing anything stupid. _

_Tick Tock._

Micro-Ice read the letter again and again, trying to convince himself that this was just another joke that D'Jok would pull to push his buttons.

_That's stupid; they got rid of the Metaflux._

_I've been a little sick, but it's nothing serious; I'm not dying._

_Simbai would have told me if there was something wrong… Oh yeah, it's undetectable._

Micro-Ice wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead as it all started to make sense; the syringe, the collapsing, the weakness after using the Breath, the inability to run too far without feeling an overwhelming sense of tiredness.

_Oh holy flux._

He threw the letter back in the drawer and shut it tight, almost as if that was going to change the outcome. It was almost like sharing the DNA with the president put you in charge of the galaxy's fate. Here he was, again faced with the choice between the ending of his own life, and sacrificing the lives of many others. Why did these things always happen to him?

Well, if he wasn't getting to sleep before, he certainly wasn't now.

* * *

Clamp made his way to the infirmary; apparently there was something important that he and Sonny had to look at. When he walked inside, his old lab partner was already standing in the middle of the room clutching a note while Simbai took a thermometer out of Micro-Ice's mouth and wrote the result down on her clipboard.

'What's going on?' the old man asked.

'Metaflux,' Sonny answered while handing the note to the grey-haired man, his expression was a mixture between worry and anger.

Clamp scanned over the note, becoming paler and paler as he read. Once he finished, he looked up at the teenager sitting on the bed and shot him a look of panic.

'Don't do that, Clamp. You're freaking me out!' Micro-Ice scolded.

'You have to understand how great a risk this is to your health, Micro-Ice,' Sonny said to the boy, 'you **should **be freaked out.'

Micro-Ice looked at Simbai's screen when a large beep sounded; another test was complete. He watched as the medic lifted the sheet from her printer and read carefully. The woman looked up at the three others who were eager to know the result, hoping that it wasn't as serious as the note made it out to be. Unfortunately, she couldn't give them that news.

'I'm afraid this is bad, Micro-Ice.'

Sonny took the sheet from the medic and scrutinised it carefully, taking in every detail.

'It's already dominated your flux cells, it certainly explains the problems you've been experiencing,' the blonde haired man said to his son's best friend.

'Well, can't you just remove it like last time? You know, when you used that big tunnel-looking machine thing?' the striker pleaded.

'I'm afraid it's not that simple; you see, with the amount of this synthetic flux in your body, it requires a very delicate procedure. If we carry it out now, chances are that you won't recover for the final.'

'The cliché is getting a bit ridiculous,' Micro-Ice muttered under his breath. How was he supposed to tell D'Jok he might not be able to play in the final?

'Can I get back to you on the whole operation thing?'

The Pirate chief nodded, 'of course. Just remember though, time is short.'

Sonny and Clamp then left the room to work on finding a lead on the one who wrote this letter. Simbai turned to the distraught teenager and felt a pain in her chest; these kids were like children to her, each of them. Seeing one of them sick or injured and not being able to do anything broke her heart. She knew what he was thinking; anyone who knew him could see it.

Micro-Ice was going to play in the final, whether it killed him or not.


	30. Suffering

CHPT30

Micro-Ice trudged back to his room, deep in thought; if he had this operation, he couldn't play in the final, letting his team, family and planet down. But, if he didn't have it, he might not _make_ it to the final. Surely the universe was punishing him for _something._ He opened the door to see D'Jok and Thran playing the latest spaceship racing game while Ahito watched on D'Jok's bed.

'Hey, where were you?' D'Jok asked as he saw his friend come in.

'I slept in the infirmary last night,' he answered without thinking, sitting beside Ahito and throwing a piece of popcorn in to his mouth.

'Why? Are you sick?'

'No, I just couldn't sleep.'

'D'Jok, it's your turn!' Thran scolded, tapping furiously at his controller.

'Hey, you were supposed to pause it, Thran!' he responded while hitting random buttons in a panicked state.

'You're just a sore loser.'

'We'll see who loses.'

'You don't have to be clairvoyant to see who's going to lose.'

Micro-Ice felt an unpleasant feeling rise within him, knowing there was no stopping the inevitable; he grabbed the small, metal bin and violently vomited in to it. After a few short moments, he managed to compose himself and look up to meet three pairs of eyes looking at him with a mixture of concern and disgust. He had just told them that he wasn't sick, and then vomited in to a bin literally seconds later. _Nice. _

'Well,' the youngest boy started as he placed the object back on the floor, 'that was pretty bad popcorn.'

'Sure you're not sick?' D'Jok asked with a raised eyebrow.

'Oh come on, a little bit of sick and you're going all over-protective big brother on me,' Micro-Ice laughed as he went in to the bathroom to wash the metal cylinder.

Once the door was closed, Micro-Ice put the can on the ground and gripped the sink so hard that his knuckles turned white to stop himself from falling over with the sudden fatigue he felt in his knees. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and, to his horror; his eyes were starting to darken. On closer inspection, he noticed that there was a faint purple rim around his pupils. The teenager tried to tell himself that the purple was probably there forever, but he just hadn't noticed. But Micro-Ice wasn't that stupid; he had heard from D'Jok that the synthetic flux that had been extracted from each of the Snowkids was purple and pink in colour. Suddenly, a crippling pain overtook his head and he fell to his knees, still gripping his raven hair and begging for the pain to subside.

_'Micro-Ice, are you okay in there?' _a voice asked from behind the door.

'F-Fine D'Jok,' he stammered, trying to reassure his best friend, though all he wanted to do was curl up on the floor and cry.

* * *

In another building in Genesis, a man entered his employer's office, the heels of his shoes clicked with every step. He waited for the aging man to spin around in his seat before bowing.

'Duke Maddox, Your Excellency.'

'Harris, you're late.'

'I apologise, Your Excellency, but it couldn't be avoided.'

'Did you bring it?'

'Of course,' he responded, sauntering over and placing the papers he had been carrying on to the large desk.

The Duke scanned over the pages thoughtfully, rubbing his bearded chin as he read, 'how much longer?'

'No more than a week, Your Excellency.'

'And if Blackbones tries to reverse it?'

'He can't; the boy's fate was decided the minute that needle pierced his skin. It's only a matter of time.'

'Harris, the press are not to find out about this; once Technoid is back under our control, the last thing we need is a scandal of this scale.'

'Of course.'

* * *

'This needs to be taken care of now!' Sonny bellowed, furious at Micro-Ice's final decision, 'doesn't he care about his health at all?'

'Sonny's right,' Corso said, looking at the boy's mother, 'it's too risky to let him carry on like this.'

'I've already talked to him about it; he won't budge,' Mana-Ice protested.

'You're his mother; can't you make him do it?'

'Would you make D'Jok join the Shadows?'

'That's completely different and you know it.'

'It isn't really if you think about it; what would D'Jok feel towards you if you made him do that? Resentment? Betrayal? Anger?'

'I see your point,' the Pirate chief sighed, 'how can you be so calm about this?'

'He said that he would consent to it after the final; you have to respect his decision.'

'It's the wrong decision,' Corso muttered.

'I know that,' she sighed. Why did her son have to be so complicated?

'Sonny, I'll make you a deal; you can operate on two conditions. Either he agrees to go through with it, or if his health goes downhill and he can't choose for himself.'

Sonny sighed; sometimes he wondered if that boy could choose for himself under normal circumstances.

'Fine, but I'm telling you now that it's going to be the second one.'

Mana-Ice didn't say anything as the two Pirates left the hotel café; she would have preferred Micro-Ice to have this operation ASAP, but having raised him for his whole life, she knew that there would be no changing his mind. The worst thing about this whole situation was that he knew the consequences of his choice, yet he was still determined to make the wrong one. If anything happened to him after that huge effort to bring him back home, it would break Mana's heart. She looked up to see her ex-husband, the father of the teenager in question, approaching her with two cups of coffee in his hand.

'Mind if I join you, Mana?'

'Pull up a seat,' she smiled, ushering for him to sit across from her, 'why the extra cup? Need an urgent caffeine-rush?'

'This one's for you; I noticed that you've been sitting here for a while, your coffee must have gone cold,' he said, gently pushing the cup towards her.

The brown-eyed woman wrapped her hand around her half-filled cup and, sure enough, it was cold. How long was she sitting here? With a light laugh, she grasped the flimsy cup that Zain had given her.

'Thanks.'

'Tell me, Mana. Was it really hard on Micro-Ice without me?' Zain asked, though he didn't want to know, fearing the answer.

'It was horrible for him at first; he was very quiet, even when D'Jok came along, but it gradually got easier. But I think that, even now, he's a bit hurt that you weren't around more.'

She began rummaging through her bag and pulled out a data-pen, handing it to Zain.

'Those are some home videos I gathered of him, I was going to give those to you later, but now that you're here…'

'Thank you, Mana. You have no idea how desperately I've wanted to see these,' he smiled.

'I must warn you, some of those would make you cringe; there's one in there at his eighth birthday.'

'What happened?'

'I hired a clown.'

'Oh, Mana, you didn't,' he laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. It was a well-known fact that Micro-Ice **did not** like clowns.

'I think you'll find that I did,' she mumbled, inwardly slapping herself.

The two talked about their son until the sun started to set on Genesis. Zain and Mana-Ice went their seperate ways to their hotel rooms. Both parents ran in to each other outside their son's room; they both obviously had a shared concern for their son's well-being. After noticing that the door was open, they peeked in to see Micro-Ice and his roommate watching an interview with Warren on his defeat. The teenagers were engrossed in the show, so the parents went unnoticed, allowing them to make a quick getaway, relieved to see that he was seemingly pain-free for the moment.

* * *

For once in what felt like forever, Micro-Ice was on the verge of falling asleep. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table and noticed that it was 2 am, earlier than he usually felt drowsy. He smiled at the little moment of calmness he was having before a familiar feeling overtook his body, causing him to wake up fully. Micro-Ice clenched the bed sheets and started to breathe heavily while a thick sheet of sweat began to cover his forehead. Something was definitely wrong. He kicked the covers off him as he started to feel himself burning up. When the pain became utterly unbearable, he let out an ear-piercing scream, immediately alerting D'Jok.

D'Jok's eyes parted quicker than Sinedd and reality on the football pitch. He was awoken by screaming, though he had never heard anything like this, someone was in real pain. Then, he heard a whimper coming from the other side of the room that made his blood run cold before the screaming continued, even getting louder.

'_Help me D'Jok.'_


	31. Pain In The Night

CHPT31

Mana-Ice slammed open the door to her son's room; Dame Simbai had called to tell her that her son was very ill. With only over a week to go until the final, this was no time for Micro-Ice to be getting sick. She wasn't prepared for what lay ahead of her. In the bedroom, Zain, Sonny and Aarch were trying to hold down her screaming son, who was lashing out at the three men, while Simbai injected him with a clear substance. The mother wanted to intervene, but if Sonny Blackbones was trying to restrain her son, with some difficulty, it was obviously necessary. In minutes, the teenager seemed to visibly relax; his screaming dulled to small, barely audible whimpers, taking deep breaths as he shut his eyes and drifted in to a deep sleep, allowing the men to release him.

'What happened?!' Mana-Ice shrieked in horror as she pushed past the men and knelt at her son's side, removing a few strands of hair from his face.

'D'Jok called me in a blind panic and told me to come here, when I arrived, Micro-Ice was crying bloody murder,' Sonny sighed as he watched the boy sleep. They had never seen this side to the Metaflux before; for months, Sonny and Clamp had been cursed with nightmares and sleepless nights, but nothing like this.

'I'd like to move him to the infirmary to keep an eye on him; we don't need a relapse,' Simbai announced as she discarded the needle.

Mana-Ice watched over her son as the others went to make the infirmary Micro-Ice proof for the night. His eyes were still wet and he looked paler than usual, but she couldn't help smiling at how calm her little boy looked right now. Instinctively, her thumb reached up to wipe his eyes. Sonny had mentioned something about an operation that needed to be done to help the teenager, but Micro-Ice made it clear that he wasn't going through with it until the final was over; Mana-Ice wasn't going to push him in to this if he didn't want to go through with it just yet, but after tonight's events, she was having second thoughts. As his mother, it was up to her to make the decision when he wasn't in the right state of mind.

If only she knew what caused this.

* * *

D'Jok watched as Micro-Ice was carried from the room, the redhead was frozen, he didn't understand what happened; one minute he was sleeping soundly, the next he was waking up to Micro-Ice's screams. He tried to block the memory from his mind, but the image was too vivid.

_'Help me, D'Jok.'_

_D'Jok shot up in bed to look at the younger striker, who was clutching his head and screaming. D'Jok jumped from his own bed and ran to his best friend's side, fear evident in his green eyes._

_'Micro-Ice, what's wrong?'_

_He tried to grab his shoulders, but it only made him shriek louder and kick him away. D'Jok stumbled backwards and sprinted to his bedside table; there was one person who would know how to deal with this. He didn't care how late it was, it couldn't wait until morning. He shakily pressed the numbers in to his holo-watch and waited for the ringing to cease. _

_Please pick up. Please pick up. Come on!_

_'Hello?' _

_'D-Dad, Micro-Ice is-he's freaking out. I-I don't know what to do!'_

_'D'Jok, calm down!'_

_'I can't!' he yelled, running a hand through his red hair and looked at his roommate, something told him that the pain was getting worse._

_'D'Jok!' Mei screamed as she, Rocket and the twins ran in to the room in their pyjamas._

_'Is that Mei?' his father's comforting voice asked from the other end._

_'Yeah,' he sighed, looking at the horrified expressions on their faces. Suddenly he wished they had never come in._

_'D'Jok, tell Mei to get Simbai and Clamp, I'll be there as soon as I can.'_

_D'Jok quickly hung up the phone and threw it on his bed, wiping sweat from his forehead._

_'Go and get Simbai and Clamp!' he commanded to anyone that would listen. Without hesitating, Mei and Thran ran to get the required adults._

_Aarch came in wearing his night clothes, clearly still tired, 'what's going on in here?'_

_'It's Micro-Ice, he just started screaming and crying and rolling around clutching his head and-'_

_'D'Jok, calm down!' Aarch demanded, looking over to the raven haired boy and seeing him in obvious pain._

_They all stared in horror as he proceeded to violently scratch away the skin around his eyes. The coach ran to pull his hands away, the contact making Micro-Ice scream louder._

**_'Let me go!'_**

_D'Jok could only stare as Micro-Ice attacked the coach, begging him to let go. Soon, Rocket proceeded to help his uncle restrain the athlete, but they were having great difficulty._

_Aarch and his nephew were taken aback by the boy's temperature; they almost pulled away from the shock of how warm his skin was; it was definitely alarming for the two._

_Soon, Mei and Thran returned with the desired staff, Zain had followed them, anxious to see what the commotion was about. He froze when he saw his son wailing in pain while trying to throw Aarch and Rocket off him. Before he could compose himself, Sonny barged past him in his normal attire._

_'Okay, Snowkids, go back to your rooms, D'Jok, wait in the hall. That's an order!'_

_No one dared to question Sonny, slowly, they started piling out of the room, shooting Micro-Ice one last concerned look. D'Jok was the last one to leave; he recalled Simbai calling someone and telling them that they needed to come to the room quickly while Sonny told Aarch and Zain to hold him down on the bed and ignore his screaming, telling them it was for his own good. D'Jok decided it was time to go when Micro-Ice tried to kick the three men away, tears spilling from his eyes which were shut tightly._

When Micro-Ice was in the safety of the infirmary, D'Jok slowly made his way back to his room; though he knew that he wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

* * *

Clamp looked at the latest results; this was progressing quicker than they had originally thought, 'it's no wonder he lashed out; look at the damage the Metaflux is doing to his nervous system.'

Sonny watched Dame Simbai place a cold cloth on his head; this flux was well known to cause a high fever, and Micro-Ice definitely had just that.

'We have to go ahead with this; we can't put it off for much longer,' Sonny announced. He knew the dangers associated with this synthetic flux, and he'd be damned if anything happened to his son's best friend because of his stubbornness.

'Do what you need to, I'll explain everything when he wakes up,' Mana-Ice said quietly, but it was loud enough for them to hear.

'Are you sure?' Simbai asked the woman who was fixing the cloth on her son's head.

'Positive. When can you do it?' the concerned mother asked the Pirate leader.

'We can do it now,' he replied.

Everyone in the room looked at him with confused expressions; it was three in the morning and Micro-Ice didn't seem very stable at the moment. Mana-Ice didn't expect them to be able to do it that quickly, but why put it off? She kissed his boiling cheek before walking towards the blonde man.

'Please be careful with him.'

Sonny nodded and reached for a pair of latex gloves, getting ready to operate on the teenager. He wasn't fazed by his lack of sleep; as a Pirate, you needed to be on your toes at all times.

'Clamp, lock the door,' Sonny demanded as he watched Simbai getting ready to place the anesthetic mask over the boy's face.

The Pirate Chief noticed that Micro-Ice was starting to wake up; they wouldn't be able to do this if he had another fit. Sonny went down on one knee so that he was level with Micro-Ice, who weakly turned his head to meet the Pirate's gaze. Sonny was taken aback at the teenager's appearance; his eyes now had purple swirls dancing around the iris, his skin had taken on a grey tinge and he looked like he hadn't slept in years.

'Sonny, what's happening?' the teenager croaked.

'It's alright, Micro-Ice,' he said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder, 'It'll all be over soon.'

'What d-?'

He was cut off by Simbai placing the mask over his face. His eyes widened when realization dawned on him. The striker tried to squirm his way off the bed and made several futile attempts to push the medic away with his low energy levels. Sonny wouldn't have him getting out of this, so took it upon himself to hold Micro-Ice's wrists down while the gas took effect, causing him to wince at the contact with the bandages on his wrists; the pain was now evident in his still-healing wrists. The teenager didn't look to happy, but Sonny wouldn't have another death on his hands because of the Metaflux. Within minutes, he was out like a light, allowing them to start the process.

* * *

Micro-Ice looked around him; he was in a bright white room, although it seemed as though it was just a vast space of nothing. He started to walk around aimlessly, wondering where and why he was here; the last thing he remembered was trying to fight his way out of the operation that he'd been trying to avoid.

_What the heck is this place?_

'Hello, Micro-Ice.'

The striker swiftly turned to see a familiar face looking at him. His eyes filled with confusion.

_It couldn't be._

'Nanna?'

The older woman nodded with a warm smile on her face; her brown eyes hadn't lost their shine, even in death.

'Am I dead?' he asked worriedly, at his age, he should_ not_ be dead.

'No, darling, not yet.'

Before he could ask another question, four doors appeared behind his deceased grandmother in a blinding flash of light, each of them were different colours; white, black, grey and blue.

'Behind three of these doors is the afterlife. If you choose one of these three, you will join me and your grandfather in death.'

'What about the other one?'

'It will bring you back to life.'

'How do I know which one to pick?'

'You'll know,' she smiled.

He looked at the four doors in front of him. The blue seemed a little strange; almost like it was there to trick him, his grandmother knew that blue was his favourite colour since a young age. Blue was out of the question. Grey seemed to be the most logical choice; white screamed a peaceful ending, black screamed painful death; maybe a mixture of the two meant life? Something in his gut told him not to pick grey. The black door seemed like the worst choice; black was the colour you wore to funerals. With a deep breath, he slowly walked towards the door his senses were driving him to. He turned to give his maternal grandmother a brief smile before turning the black handle.


	32. Back To Reality

Micro-Ice braced himself as he cautiously stepped through the black door. He looked around the room to see that he was in a hospital room, yet he passed out in the infirmary, as far as he could remember.

_What the flux?_

Upon closer inspection, it looked like a maternity ward, with a calendar on the wall displaying the date of his birth, right down to the year, no less.

'Finally let your mother sleep, hm?'

Micro-Ice knew that voice anywhere, he turned to see a raven haired man cradling a tiny baby in a light blue blanket with the same coloured hair.

_Dad?_

He watched as a visibly younger Zain gaze at the newborn in a trance-like state, like he was a treasured family heirloom.

'Daniel just doesn't seem to suit you,' he sighed, stroking the baby's hair, 'you just don't look like a Daniel.'

_Daniel? Didn't Mom mention something about almost calling me Daniel?_

'You don't look like a Michael either, or an Elliot.'

_Michael? Elliot? Wait a minute; am I that baby?_

'Unbelievable; you've been alive for a few hours and already you're making things awkward.'

Right on cue, the infant started to whimper and squirm in his father's arms, making the man panic.

'No, no, don't cry! I didn't mean it!' he said, slightly panicked and holding the baby at arm's-length.

_Ah, yes, Dad's infamous parenting skills._

The covers of the bed beside the father and son moved and a tired looking woman sat up, looking mischievously at the new father.

_Mom? What the heck is going on?_

'Need a little help, Zain?' she asked, taking the child from him gently.

'Maybe a little,' he mumbled, passing the baby to her so carefully it was like, if he dropped him, the child would shatter in to a million pieces. Instantly, he quietened down and started to doze off.

'He's going to be a momma's boy, isn't he?' the man pouted, causing the mother to chuckle.

Micro-Ice smiled at the sight before him and sat on the bed opposite the small family, who were oblivious to his presence in the room. Suddenly, he felt himself shiver, like he was outside. He turned around to see a large rock formation covered in ice and snow, a large hole at the front with helmets and tools scattered around the entrance. He knew that cave.

'Shiloh, cut it out!'

'Grow up, Icy, it's just a bit of snow!' a small girl smirked as she secured her helmet.

Micro-Ice watched the raven-haired boy wipe the snow from the front of his baby blue coat and pout, also fastening his helmet.

'It's really cold, Shi!'

'Oh boo hoo, you're going down there to dig through snow and ice anyway.'

'You didn't have to hit me with a snowball though!'

The little girl picked up a handful of snow and threw it at him, making him yelp in surprise.

'Well, you ready?' she asked, approaching the cave entrance and grabbing the rope ascending down the tunnel.

'Yeah, yeah,' he mumbled, also approaching the rope and grabbing the girl's hand before turning to her, 'oh, and Shi?'

'Hm?'

'Happy birthday,' he smiled, taking his hand from hers and holding up nine fingers, signifying her age.

'Well, you can give me your present later, we've got work to do,' the mahogany haired girl winked.

Micro-Ice watched as the two young children disappeared down the mine holding hands; it was advised for young miners to buddy-up so they didn't get lost, hurt or killed when they were chopping ice apart with sharp tools.

_Yeah, because that makes it __**so**__ much safer._

When Micro-Ice blinked, he was in their locker room back on Genesis, with excited screams and running edging closer.

_What the-_

'We won! We freaking won!' D'Jok screamed as he ran through the door in his football kit, closely followed by an ecstatic Micro-Ice, also in his jersey.

'We're the champions!' the little striker cried, jumping on to the benches and dancing.

_Me? But I'm right- I'm not- huh?_

The rest of the team had wide smiles as they sauntered in, Thran carrying Ahito on his back, who was grinning in his sleep. Rocket and Tia tried to hide their joy, but couldn't contain themselves; they had stupid smiles plastered on their faces, blushing when they looked at each other. Mei skipped in laughing; Micro-Ice remembered her doing this right after their first GFC victory, thinking it was a bit out of character for the defender. Then again, how else would you expect to react if you scored the winning goal in a cup final? Immediately, the strikers noticed her presence.

'Let's give it up for Meeeeeeei!' the younger Micro-Ice shrieked, leaping off the bench and jumping up and down.

The rest of the team cheered loudly as D'Jok made his way over to the defender and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, causing the cheers to grow louder.

Micro-Ice remembered the after-party that night, when D'Jok was in an entirely different mood; D'Jok was worried that his father would be angry with him for endangering his life so that he could win a football match; Aarch had told them that Sonny was safe and sound. After a while, Sonny finally got around to finding his son, and, like Micro-Ice predicted, there was nothing to worry about. The Pirate Chief expressed how he had never been so proud of anyone in his life and that he wanted to build a solid father-son relationship with the redheaded striker.

'Think we can do it again?' Rocket asked Tia, snapping Micro-Ice out of his daze.

'With you as our captain, I doubt we couldn't,' she winked, making her way over to the locker.

Micro-Ice leaned back against the wall and enjoyed the happy scene in front of him; this was one of the best moments of his life. With one last glance at the overjoyed team, he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, feeling himself gently falling.

* * *

Mana-Ice looked at her son who was sprawled out on his own bed; D'Jok wanted to help keep an eye on him, so she allowed the teenager to return to his own room, provided that she could check up on him frequently and set up some equipment by his bedside.

'When do you think he'll wake up?' Zain asked the Pirate who was locking up the synthetic flux in a cube-like box.

Sonny looked at the white haired man, who was sitting on an armchair at his son's side, beside his ex-wife.

'It shouldn't be too long now,' the chief quietly replied, looking at the parents, 'he's going to be pretty angry that the operation went ahead, so don't mention it to him.'

'Why don't we just tell him he fell or something and that he didn't have the operation?'

'With all due respect, Sir, even Micro-Ice isn't that stupid.'

Mana-Ice slapped the back of Zain's head; she used the same technique on Micro-Ice when he let his stupidity get the better of him. The older man yelped in surprise and turned to glare at her, only to find her looking away and whistling innocently. Sonny smirked at the two, it was like Corso and Artie all over again; the young Pirate would make a smart comment and be rewarded with a slap on the back of the head from the second-in-command.

'That was uncalled for.'

'Oh no, it was definitely called for.'

'What are you, eleven?'

'I wouldn't go there, Zain.'

The Pirate's hazel eyes noticed that the small lump on the bed was starting to move. He picked up the box that now encased the Metaflux and walked past the bickering couple, tapping each of them on the shoulder and pointing to the boy who was slowly starting to wake up. When he was sure that the parents understood, he made his exit, ready to meet the soldiers that Zain had assigned to accompany him to the Black Manta, determined to destroy this flux once and for all.

* * *

After some time shifting around uncomfortably, Micro-Ice's eyelids parted, only to slam shut again due to the overwhelming light that burned his eyes. After a few minutes, he was able to open them without being blinded. His vision was blurry, but soon found his bearings. He was in his room, in his bed, wrapped up in the blue covers. He dismissed the odd collection of memories as a dream before he noted a faint beeping noise, not to mention a numb feeling in his left hand.

'Sweetie?'

Micro-Ice allowed his gaze to slowly look up and meet a pair of warm brown eyes. On closer inspection, he saw that a pair of eyes similar to his own also looked at him. He wanted to ask what had happened, but was, quite frankly, too exhausted to try speaking. He glanced behind them and saw a machine; steady green lines moved to the beeps, which he soon figured out were in sync with his heartbeat. He let his blue eyes wander to the source of discomfort in his hand, only to see a small needle poking out of a bandage, connected to a pouch of water attached to a metal pole.

_Oh, they didn't… _

Suddenly, he was a little more alert, able to shoot his parents a threatening glare. This didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

'Look son,' Zain started, nervously shifting in his seat, 'this was for your own benefit.'

'We did this because we love you,' Mana chimed in.

'And we didn't want to lose you.'

'So that's why we let them do their thing.'

'Without your consent of course.'

'But only because we both love you.'

The striker raised an eyebrow at the panicked state his parents were in. He was livid at the pair for letting a Pirate and Technician poke around his body looking for a flux they created that caused a massive ice-age.

_Yeah, perfect example of parenting there, guys._

_But, if they want to play games, so can I._

He gathered all of his strength and tried to speak, noticing how his parents leaned in closer to hear their son speak for the first time in hours. Holding back his smirk, he put his plan in to action.

'D-Do I know you?' he croaked, surprised by how weak his voice sounded.

Their eyes widened to the size of saucers as they exchanged horrified looks. While they were distracted, Micro-Ice bit his lip, trying to hold back the chuckle threatening to escape.

'Micro-Ice, sweetie,' Mana-Ice began as she tore her attention away from the middle-aged man and moved a loose strand of hair from her son's face, 'it's us; Mom and Dad.'

'Sorry,' he quietly said, pretending to be genuinely confused as he weakly shook his head and raised his eyebrows.

'Oh crud.'

'Oh holy flux.'

'Mana, what do we do?'

'Get that little gremlin in here now; he's going to fix this!'

'Little gremlin?'

'Clamp, you idiot!'

Micro-Ice gawked at how his mother was acting; he had only seen this behaviour from her once before, and that was when Aarch managed to _misplace_ him when he ran off with the Pirates. Bottom line; **no one** messes with Mana-Ice's baby boy.

'That's a little harsh; it's not his fault he-'

'Zain!'

'S-Sorry,' he whimpered, scampering out of the room.

Micro-Ice turned to the opposite wall to avoid his frantic mother's gaze. He tried to sleep, but could only blink at the window that over-looked Genesis City. He couldn't help thinking about how his mother was going to skin Clamp alive. If he was being blatantly honest, he was surprised how she didn't notice that he was kidding the second that sentence left his mouth. Then again, she was never thinking straight when there was even the slightest chance that her son was in trouble; and that was the scary part. He knew that Sonny probably wouldn't take this little joke well either; the chief was fond of a good laugh, but not when it came to the safety of others. He knew Aarch would also have something to say about it, as would Shiloh.

_Oh Smog, Shiloh! _

She would beat him to a pulp if she knew he was cracking jokes in his condition. Suddenly, the thought of dying from Metaflux poisoning seemed more appealing than having to explain himself to his over-protective mother, already stressed-out father, overly-concerned Pirate Chief, worried teammates (who were sure to find out about this), his strict coaches, stern medic and his girlfriend who could beat him up quite easily.

Conclusion? Micro-Ice was **so** dead.


	33. Quick Fix

CHPT33

Micro-Ice's eyelids fluttered open, allowing him to take in the scene in front of him; his mother had Clamp dangling by his shirt collar, eye-level with her, demanding that he fix this. Zain was on the phone, frantically updating who he assumed to be Sonny on the situation at hand. Simbai was scurrying around his bedside, assuring Aarch that he was physically fine, which did little to calm the coach.

'Nice one, Micro-Ice.'

The striker jumped ten feet in the air, snapping his head to the other side of his bed. There, Shiloh was sitting on an armchair, resting her socked feet on the mattress.

'Now,' she started, dropping her feet to the ground and leaning in closer to him, 'what part of you thought that little stunt was a good idea?'

'Erm, who are you?' he asked sheepishly; she would skin him alive if she found out he was joking.

'Icy, you can't fool a Pirate, no matter how hard you try,' she scoffed.

With that, she pressed a few buttons on her holo watch and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

'Hey, who are you-'

Shiloh smacked Micro-Ice's hand which was going for her holo-watch, earning a yelp from the unsuspecting juvenile.

'Shut up, I'm on the watch!' she warned, pointing a threatening finger at him, making him immediately back off.

'Shiloh?'

'He's awake.'

'How long will it take you to clear the room?'

Shiloh smirked, 'give me thirty seconds, tops.'

'Hm, a little sure of yourself, Miss Magee?'

'You know me, Corso.'

Micro-Ice winced; Corso was going to throw him off the roof of the Hotel and feed him to the droids. But where there's Corso there's…

'Sonny!'

Shiloh frowned as she saw the Pirate leader on the screen, ending the call and standing up.

'Well played.'

'Well Shiloh, you didn't say exactly when the thirty seconds would start,' Sonny winked.

'Touché, Mr. Blackbones.'

The teenage girl then turned to the crowd staring at the screen intently; who were wondering what was going to happen.

'Dinner's on me tonight if you all pile out _right_ now,' the teenage girl announced.

This resulted in the desired effect; excitedly, the adults started piling out of the room, leaving Shiloh and Micro-Ice with Sonny on the large screen holo-TV.

'Not bad,' Sonny nodded, 'are you really going to buy them dinner though?'

'Heck no, they get paid more in a month than I do in three. Let them get their own damn dinner.'

She then proceeded to walk nonchalantly out of the room, poking her head around the door to snicker at Micro-Ice before closing it. Micro-Ice wasn't surprised; you couldn't fool that girl, and if you tried, she had no sympathy when it came to the consequences. He made an audible _meep_ when the angry second-in-command appeared beside Sonny, who didn't look too impressed himself.

'Uh, hi Mr. Blackbones, Sir.'

'No need to be formal, Micro-Ice,' the chief sighed.

'Sorry, Sir.'

'So, kid. What part of you thought it a good idea to fake memory loss?' Corso demanded.

'Well, we all forget some things occasionally,' Micro-Ice laughed nervously.

'Even who your parents are?'

'Well, I- Err… they made me get the oper-'

'Of course they made you get the operation! You could have _died_, what part of you doesn't understand that?!'

The striker visibly flinched at Corso's words; of course he knew; only an idiot wouldn't know.

'But, if I didn't play in the final, I'd let everybody down.'

'They would rather lose a football final than lose a child; anyone would,' Sonny said gently.

'I know, I just wasn't thinking,' he sighed, gripping his hair tightly.

'Hey, we all make mistakes,' he smiled, ignoring the glare he was getting from Corso, who was rather looking forward to scolding the kid.

Truthfully, he could have strangled Micro-Ice for being such an idiot, but he'd worry about that later. He didn't want to stress the boy any further in case it triggered another panic attack, and with him on his way back to Shiloh to dispose of the Metaflux, he wouldn't be there to help Clamp figure out what went wrong.

'Just get some rest; I've given Shiloh some instructions on how to get you out of this little jam.'

'Thanks Sonny, that's a load off my mind,' he smiled releasing the hair from his death grip.

'Wait, how'd you get her number anyway?'

Corso couldn't hold back a snigger and had to turn his face to the side, making Sonny bite the inside of his cheek to prevent a similar reaction.

'Well, it seems that Mei and Shiloh have become close friends, I think I heard Mei say something about _Shop Buddies_,' Sonny grinned.

'Oh flux,' Micro-Ice muttered; this meant that he would be forced to endure an afternoon of looking at skirts, dresses, jackets; anything Mei could get her perfectly moisturised hands on.

He feared that the brunette would manage to corrupt her; but he had been praying that it wouldn't happen, even if it was inevitable. He knew the minute that D'Jok had agreed to go with Mei on their first shopping trip as a couple that he would suffer some way; curse D'Jok and his lack of self-respect.

* * *

'I feel stupid, Mei.'

'Oh come on, it looks great on you!'

D'Jok emerged from the bathroom in, what he described as, a monkey suit; a plaid green and white shirt and pink bow-tie just didn't scream _vicious striker_ so much as it did _ultimate punching bag._

'Mei, can't I just throw on some sweats and go see Micro-Ice?' D'Jok pouted as he tugged at the uncomfortable brown three-quarter length trousers.

'No, we're going shopping!' she squealed excitedly.

'In this? Forget. It.'

'Come on; think of it as a birthday present for the best girlfriend in the world,' she smiled sweetly, fluttering her eyelashes.

'Your birthday was months ago.'

'And what did you get me?'

'I gave you the pin to my credit card!' he then inspected the brown dress shoes and scowled, 'how much did this cost anyway?'

'You'll see in your next credit card statement,' she replied casually, coating her lips in the pink gloss.

'Come on,' she smiled, grabbing her purse in one hand and D'Jok, who was on the verge of tears, out her bedroom door and out to Genesis City.

* * *

Micro-Ice was flicking through the TV channels, waiting for Simbai to come and change his bandage.

_Sport? Nah._

_Fashion show? Oh, please._

_Newsround? May as well, I guess._

With the press of a button, he saw a sea of journalists swarming, what appeared to be, the front of the Snowkids' hotel. He groaned in frustration as they attacked two figures trying to sneak away from the hotel from the side door. Poor, pathetic souls.

'_D'Jok, Mei, a word for the camera!'_

Micro-Ice almost choked when he saw what D'Jok was wearing; there was no way he would buy that for himself. He'd have to thank Mei later.

'_D'Jok, how do you feel about the upcoming final?!'_

'_You know, we really need to go… Come on Mei!'_

Micro-Ice sniggered as his best friend grabbed the defender's arm and bolted towards the shopping district of Genesis City, several journalists following suit. Deciding that the best was probably over, he decided to flick through the channels once again.

_'Big Joe, you **are** the father.'_

*Click*

_'-Lemon juice to add flavour.'_

*Click*

_'Yo man, imma kick yo' head in, fool!'_

*Click*

_'-Galactik Football Cup final is fast approaching!'_

Micro-Ice shrugged his shoulders and settled further into the bed, watching the overenthusiastic Callie Mystic rant on about the fast-approaching game.

_'Yes, indeed Callie. The galaxy is alive with Snowkid fever this week, a team which are rumoured to be one of the best teams in history.'_

Micro-Ice smirked and nodded his head at Nork's comment; damn straight they were one of the best. They were **the** best.

_'However, we can't forget about the Xenons, I think they may just snatch the title from the Snowkids, they're one heck of a team!'_

Micro-Ice growled; Barry was never right, but it would be nice to give him a nice big kick to his over-sized shin.

_'I think Akillian may just pull it off,' Callie beamed, 'I mean, the Snowkids won their first GFC when they were teenagers, which has never been heard of in the history of this competition.'_

_'And speaking of kids,' Nork began as he turned around to grin charismatically at the camera, 'President Zain hasn't been seen since the rumour about-'_

*Click*

Micro-Ice let out a frustrated moan and slumped back on the bed; not even the sports channels were safe anymore. It was his business, not theirs; stupid journalists.

'Micro-Ice.'

The striker let out a startled yelp as he was struck around the head. He glanced to his right to see Shiloh holding a medical book on Amnesia, his family looming over her shoulder.

'Shi, what the heck?!'

'He's cured!' Zain bellowed, grabbing Mana-Ice in a tight hug.

_They don't honestly believe this…_

'Shiloh, you're a genius!'

'Oh, my baby!'

He pouted when he felt his mother ruffle his hair and kiss his forehead. He wasn't a toddler anymore. Micro-Ice squeaked as a flash ignited the room; Hush Sharky stood on the balcony snapping photos of the small family. How he managed to get up there, they didn't know.

'Flux off you little weasel!' Shiloh instructed, stomping towards the large balcony doors and throwing them open. The miniscule reporter was thrown off the balcony without being able to get a word in.

'Shi!' Micro-Ice shrieked, flabbergasted.

'It isn't very polite to interrupt private business,' she mumbled, rolling her eyes.

'It's not very polite to throw reporters off of buildings either!'

'Hey, he had it coming.'

'It's okay, he landed on the guy from Channel Eight News,' Mana-Ice called from the balcony, 'they're both fine.'

Micro-Ice breathed a sigh of relief while Shiloh muttered something incoherent under her breath.

'How are you feeling today, Micro-Ice?' Simbai asked as she walked over to his bedside, completely oblivious to the scene that had just unfolded.

'I'm fine, got my memory back.'

'Oh, how did that happen?' the medic asked, intrigued.

'Shiloh hit me with a book on Amnesia.'

'… Hm. That's very clever.'

The raven haired teenager gaped; this woman was supposed to be very intelligent, and she, like everyone else, believed that getting walloped by a book could cure Amnesia? These people needed a good whack on the back of the head. Micro-Ice looked up as Thran walked into the room with a huge smile on his face and settled down on the edge of the bed without saying a word.

'Uh… Thran, what'cha doing?'

The defender simply pointed to Dame Simbai, who was approaching with a syringe. Micro-Ice whimpered and grabbed Thran's hand, to the amusement of everyone else in the room. He had been getting blood tests and injections with Thran since they first met in the hospital all those years ago. Even if it may make him look like a baby, but he didn't care. He'd grow out of this fear eventually. He could be a little kid for a few seconds.


	34. Paranoia

CHPT34

**Well, I guess an apology is in order? ^^'**

**First of all, I'm sorry for the extremely slow update, school's back with a vengeance and I haven't had time to upload, write, review, reply to PMs; nothing! I hate A Levels :(**

**I put this together today for you guys, just so you know I'm still alive. It's a pointless chappie, but it's a chapter nonetheless.**

**So, I'll get to the replying and reviewing tomorrow night, it's sleepy time now :) **

**Happy reading amigos! **

* * *

'You don't have to sit there, you know.'

'I'd rather sit here than be confined to a stuffy office.'

Micro-Ice rolled his eyes as he watched his father sign yet another document; he didn't think it was possible to carry that much paper in a single briefcase. The striker was sure he was just here to keep an eye on him; he could be very over protective when it came to his family. Though he hadn't figured out if that happened to be a good or bad thing.

'How's your toast settling, son?'

'Fine.'

Zain whipped off his reading glasses and looked at the teenager on the bed in front of him. With an overdramatic sigh, he pushed the papers on his lap onto the bedside table.

'You're lying to me.'

'I am not!'

'Prove it,' he started, reaching into the bedside table and pulling out a chocolate bar, 'eat this.'

'You know… I'm not that hungry-' he winced; just the sight of chocolate could make his stomach do flip flops.

'Oh, Micro-Ice isn't hungry? Young man, the day Micro-Ice says he isn't hungry is the day-'

He was cut off when the teenager hastily grabbed the bucket Simbai had left beside his bed and emptied his stomach contents into it. With a sympathetic look, he began to rub gentle, comforting circles on his son's back. He knew this would happen, Simbai had warned him of this reaction earlier as his son slept. The last time he had comforted Micro-Ice as he vomited was over a decade ago.

* * *

_The small family sat in the back of the expensive holo-car, on their way back to their home in Cordale. The couple exchanged frightened glances as their four year old bounced around in his seat, laughing at passersbys in the industrial city. They had been invited to dinner with the owner of a large law firm. Unfortunately, Zain wasn't told about his son's reaction to sugary snacks, and gave the young boy a packet of Skittles, resulting in a very excitable four-year-old bouncing off the walls; needless to say, Mana-Ice wasn't pleased._

'_Mommy, Mommy, look! It's Jabba the Hutt!'_

_The mother looked out the window to see an overweight woman look at the child in horror through the open window, which the president quickly closed._

'_You realise he'll never sleep tonight, don't you?' Mana scowled, crossing her arms._

'_I do now,' he sighed, watching his son poke the driver on the back of the head, testing the elderly man's patience._

'_Sweetie, stop irritating Vladimir,' Mana sighed, gently pulling the child back onto his booster seat._

_The tiny boy kicked his legs excitedly, his sugar rush not allowing him to sit still for the remainder of the short car trip. Zain raised an eyebrow as his mini-me started head banging, his unruly hair flying in all directions. _

'_Darling, stop that.'_

'_No way!'_

'_Yes way, you're going to hurt yourself.'_

'_Aw, Mommy, you're no fun!'_

'_It's not my job to be fun, it's my job to make sure your head doesn't fly off,' she said in a sly tone, smirking at the horrified expression on his little face._

_Zain laughed lightly at the sight; Mana always knew how to make their son settle down during these little fiascos. However, he noticed that Micro-Ice was looking a little pale and worse-for-wear. That could only mean one thing._

_Oh flux._

'_Mana, get the bag!'_

_The mother quickly reached over Zain to grab one of the vomit bags from under the seat and hand it to him. The president then shook the bag and placed it in front of his son's face just in time for the young boy to throw up violently into the paper. Zain proceeded to pat his child's back as the vomit continued to flow. He shot his wife a sideways glance, noting that she didn't look pleased; it didn't take a genius to figure out who she was agitated with. With a nervous smile, he turned to look her in the eye._

'_Guess he'll have the fruit next time?'_

'_You're damn right he will.'_

* * *

Zain sighed as Micro-Ice pulled out of his grip and lay back down on the bed, a frustrated scowl on his face. When it came to recovery and food, that boy had no patience.

'Cheer up, son,' he sighed, sitting beside him on the bed and placing the bucket to the side.

'Do you know how many times you've said that since the operation?'

'I haven't exactly counted.'

'Well into the double figures.'

'You counted?'

'I've got a lot of time on my hands.'

Zain nodded, understanding that, under Sonny's strict orders, Micro-Ice was to stay in bed until further notice; no training, no arcades, no shopping sprees with the girls. It was more of a safety precaution if anything, but the Pirate Chief was always careful when it came to those who were remotely connected to himself, his son or his inventions. He'd have to find out why at a later date. Suddenly, he remembered something and began to rummage through his briefcase. Eventually, he pulled out a small case and held it up to the teenager, smirking at his surprised expression.

'You got me _Lonestar Racer 2_?!'

Zain chuckled as the game was snatched from his hands by the excited striker; once they get a new game, teenagers want little to do with their parents. Oh, the joys of fatherhood. Micro-Ice seemed to be in disbelief as he opened the case to inspect the disk, and, sure enough, there it was staring back at him.

'I thought it didn't come out for another two weeks?'

'Micro-Ice, the government owns Technoid now; we can get anything we want, when we want.'

The teenager ignored his father and pulled out his handheld gaming device, automatically slipping the game into it and shuffling around in bed, trying to get comfy. With a humoured shake of his head, Zain left him to it, needing to sort out some documents concerning trade in Shiloh.

* * *

'Sonny, you can't be serious!'

The chief sighed as he stepped away from the machine that was currently breaking down the Metaflux atom by atom, making it easier to dispose of.

'I don't think you interpreted it right, Corso.'

'What did you mean by _you'll let him play in the final_, then?'

'The match is five days away; if he's feeling up to it, he can play as long as he doesn't push himself too far.'

'And how far is too far?'

'I wouldn't recommend that he use the Breath; it may be a bit soon to be playing with flux considering the damage done to his flux cells.'

'And you honestly think he's going to listen?' Corso scoffed, taking a swig of coffee.

'I think he knows not to lie to a Pirate now, Corso,' Sonny laughed, checking the progress once again out of sheer paranoia he had gained over the years, 'besides, Shiloh's going to keep him right.'

Corso chuckled under his breath, knowing that the girl was more than capable of dealing with unruly teenage boys. The duo looked up as Artie and Bennett walked in, the blonde Pirate examining trade routes for Sonny, ignoring everyone else in the room.

'Man, it's like they cloned Corso,' Artie exclaimed, ushering behind him at the soldiers appointed by President Zain, 'no sense of humour whatsoever.'

'Well Artie, you're not particularly funny,' Corso growled, downing the rest of the liquid and placing the cup on the counter.

'Come on, Corso old boy, I'm the funniest Pirate on the Black Manta.'

Corso sniggered, 'I apologise Artie, that _was_ funny.'

Sonny shook his head in exasperation as the two continued to bicker. He knew that sooner or later that Corso would grab Artie's ear and trail him away; most likely to lock him in a room until it was time to leave. Once again, Sonny peeked at the Metaflux; just to be safe.

After all, a Pirate could never be too careful, right?

* * *

'What the flux is this, Shi?!'

'It's called algebra.'

'Are you sure?'

'It's got little letters after the numbers, doesn't it?'

'Well, yeah, but this doesn't look like any algebra I've studied.'

'That's because you left to play football before we got onto it.'

'Thank Genesis for that.'

Shiloh rolled her eyes and continued to violently tap her pen on the page of her exercise book, completing yet another equation as Micro-Ice gawked at the questions in the textbook. Honestly, it wasn't that difficult if you had the right teacher.

'Shi, can you put the books down? Just the thought of Maths is giving me a brain aneurism.'

'I swear, this whole not going to school thing is getting to your head,' she sighed, holding up her calculator threateningly, 'do I have to _really_ give you amnesia?'

'… I'm good.'

'Then hush, my final exam's in a few weeks and I don't fancy failing.'

'Fine,' the striker mumbled, taking a bite of his dry toast. Truthfully, he'd rather stuff his face with ice-cream and vomit than nibble on cooked bread until he _did _throw up. Who made his father the medic?

'When does Dame Simbai have to change your bandages?' she asked, not looking up.

'About ten-'

He stopped when he heard a loud bang from outside, startling them both. Shiloh, being the curious girl she was, immediately raced to the large window and threw the curtains open, almost instantly pulling them closed and turning to the teenager on the bed, hiding the drapes behind her back like it would erase the sight. Micro-Ice blinked at Shiloh's paling face, suddenly very concerned.

'Shi, what's wrong?'

He gulped as she acknowledged him, her eyes full of fear.

Shiloh didn't scare easily. That in itself was rather unsettling.

'Shi?'


	35. Platinum

CHPT35

**Hey guys! It's me, shocker, eh? So, I read that one of you guys was in bed sick when the last chappie came out, and I hope you're feeling better! :) Also, I hope all of you beautiful reviewers are in good health, hehe ^^**

* * *

'Shi, what was that? You're starting to freak me out.'

'A truck backfired.'

'And you're panicking because…?'

'It's the credit card company, Micro-Ice.'

Micro-Ice was about to ask her to explain further when D'Jok frantically threw the door open, still clad in his new attire.

'Code Platinum; this is not a drill! Code Platinum!'

Realisation finally dawned on the tiny striker as he slowly shook his head in disbelief.

'Not Code Platinum!'

'I'm afraid so, Micro-Ice.'

'How much time do we have?' Shiloh queried, directing her gaze from Micro-Ice to D'Jok.

'Not long, she's already collected the card.'

'Oh dear Smog, no!' Micro-Ice squeaked, terror building within him.

'All safety procedures in place… Move!' D'Jok exclaimed, bolting from the doorway and going to warn the others.

Micro-Ice slowly got out of bed to close and bolt the door as Shiloh made a move to close the curtains. Just as the diminutive footballer grabbed the handle, Zain stormed in, knocking the teenager back a few steps.

'Get back into bed this _instant_, young man!'

Micro-Ice gaped at his father, who crossed his arms and gave his son a stern look.

'But… How did you… You're not even-'

Shiloh smirked at the confused teenager; even _she_ knew that Zain had a sixth sense when it came to Micro-Ice. Zain, however, held a stone expression, waiting for him to stop the babbling and get back into bed.

'Micro-Ice, I'm going to count to three, and if you're not under those covers by then, I'm taking Flumpy tonight.'

'I'm not a baby anymore, Dad,' Micro-Ice huffed, though a sense of worry managed to creep onto his features.

'One.'

Micro-Ice didn't budge, just cautiously eyed the blue bunny at the foot of his bed.

'Two.'

The teenager bit his lip, a tiny bead of sweat forming on his forehead, much to the teenage girl's amusement.

'Th-'

'Okay, okay!' Micro-Ice squeaked, practically jumping under the covers and protectively placing Flumpy beside him before letting his bottom lip stick out in a pout.

Zain and Shiloh exchanged an amused look before the middle aged man took over what Micro-Ice was doing, just in time to hear Mei excitedly skip down the corridor chirping about her new platinum credit card.

* * *

'Sonny, I've never seen you so relaxed.'

'He's not relaxing Artie, he's meditating.'

'I thought meditating relaxed you?'

'Artie, you're an idiot.'

Sonny sighed and looked up at the two Pirates above him. Sometimes, it felt like he was babysitting two unruly toddlers when it came to the pair. He removed his hands from his knees and looked at the two bickering men.

'Corso, Artie, do you mind?'

The two Pirates stopped immediately and looked at their irritated chief.

'Sorry Sonny,' they both mumbled in union, shooting a small glare at each other.

'Did you want something?'

Corso tore his gaze away from Artie and rummaged around in his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper.

'Bennett wanted to make sure we had all trade routes covered for President Zain,' he explained, handing the paper to his close friend.

Sonny took the sheet and scanned over it, confusion written all over his face as he came to the end of the list.

'When did I give the order for a route from Cordale to Shiloh?'

'Oh, Zain threw that one in to transport weapons if we need them. Pretty cool, huh?' Artie exclaimed, a smile plastered on his face.

Sonny rolled his eyes at the young Pirate's enthusiasm and handed the paper back to his second in command.

'Tell Bennett that everything looks fine,' he smiled before standing up and making his way to the on-board kitchen, deciding that a well-earned snack was in order.

* * *

'D'Jok! I know you're in here!'

Micro-Ice found it difficult to restrain his laughter as Mei stormed into his bathroom, looking for her boyfriend, who was trying to avoid an afternoon with Mei in the Genesis shopping district to break in her new credit card. The striker and his father shared an amused look and went back to scanning over some documents that Micro-Ice didn't really understand. Well, pretending to at least; really they were just trying to act nonchalant so that the defender didn't realise that D'Jok was cowering under the bed they were currently sitting on.

'Micro-Ice, where is he?' Mei demanded, standing by his bedside.

'Where's who?'

'You know who,' she said through gritted teeth, twirling her credit card in her manicured hand, as though to emphasise her point.

'Oh, D'Jok?' he waited for her to nod before continuing, 'can't say I've seen him. He could be in a bit of a _tight spot_, if you get me.'

A quiet snort came from below the bed at the terrible pun, causing Mei's head to bob up as if she were a Meerkat, her ponytail jumping from side to side following this action.

'What was that?'

'Oh, sound travels through the vents in this room,' he calmly stated, smiling at the brunette teenager, 'I swear, the people below don't shut up.'

'Oh,' she said, nodding her head in understanding, clearly buying it, 'you should make a complaint to D'Jado about that, you know.'

'I'll look into it,' he smiled, watching her turn to exit the room before turning to face him with a sceptical look.

'So, you _don't_ know where D'Jok is?'

'Sorry,' he shrugged, lying through his teeth.

'Well, tell him that next time he tries to skip out on boyfriend-girlfriend time, he'll have to answer to me.'

'Don't worry Mei, I'll tell him.'

As soon as she left, D'Jok wasted no time in scurrying from underneath the bed and standing to his full height, stretching his sore muscles.

'It frightens me how well you can lie, son,' Zain stated with a mildly concerned look on his face.

'He worked with the Akillian Mob after all,' D'Jok explained.

Zain looked at the tiny teenager with surprise, having a hard time believing that his little boy was involved with such people. Micro-Ice, on the other hand, looked mortified.

'You seem to have a hard time keeping things to yourself, don't you D'Jok?' the politician smirked.

The redhead in question looked clueless for a moment before he slapped his forehead.

'For flux sake!'

'Micro-Ice, I seem to recall that you had a fear of toy guns when you were young,' Zain remarked, 'what on earth changed?'

'I didn't do that kind of work,' he grumbled, still scowling at D'Jok for blowing it, 'I just sold football tickets.'

'On Akillian?' his father chuckled, 'did you sell many?'

'What do you think? This was back when the Red Tigers were the official Akillian team.'

The white haired man snorted, obviously someone had mentioned the woeful team to him.

'But now, anyone would kill for a ticket to an Akillian game,' D'Jok smugly said, dropping onto the opposite bed

'It's only because we're amazing.'

'Not to mention the best in the league.'

'Best in the galaxy.'

'Okay you two, I think I get the point,' the middle-aged man laughed, shuffling through another document.

A sudden crash made the youngest teenaged dive under the covers with a loud, undignified shriek, shielding himself as the invading paparazzi snapped various pictures of the father and son.

_Jeeze, why won't they give up already?_

The sound of several well built men escorting the journalists out through the bedroom door reached his eardrums. Micro-Ice peeked out from under the covers, noticing that they had left a very noticeable hole in the window, a helicopter floating outside. D'Jado was going to go dippy. His father's private security forced the Nectonian News reporters out of the bedroom, apologising to their superior as they left. D'Jok crawled from underneath his own bed, noticing that it was now safe to come out.

'This is getting ridiculous,' the captain growled, noticing the destroyed window with shards of broken glass littering the floor.

'I thought you loved the press, D'Jok,' Zain snickered, collecting the pages which were thrown to the ground during the brief invasion.

'Not when they try to _kill _me!'

'They didn't try to kill you, airhead,' Micro-Ice said with a deadpanned expression, trying once again to get comfortable.

'Are you alright son?'

'I'm fine,' the tiny striker grumbled, removing his father's hand from the black mess on top of his head.

'Are you sure?'

'Yes.'

'Are you really sure?'

'I'm really sure.'

'Are you really,_ really_ sure?'

'Now you're just trying to get on my nerves.'

'Well, you had to get your annoying habits from someone, my dear boy.'

* * *

Harris nervously scurried towards his temporary office, trying to avoid contact with Duke Maddox at all costs. The aging man would not be pleased to know that their plan to get to the president had failed. Darn Pirates. He needed to come up with another plan quickly, otherwise his employer would have his hide. The end was in sight for the man in the pink jacket, his office was straight ahead. One little twist of the handle and…

**'Harris!'**

_Dammit!_

He flinched as the furious voice bounced off the walls, certainly doing some damage to his eardrums. As the thundering footsteps drew closer and closer, Harris started to sweat. Maddox could be frightening if he wanted to, but he was no Bleylock. Oh dear, this wasn't going to be pretty.


	36. Plan B

CHPT36

Harris pulled at his shirt collar uncomfortably as his plump superior dropped into the large, cushioned chair and stared at him expectantly. The furious gleam in his eye told the former general's right hand man that he was not happy about the unfortunate circumstances.

'Harris, explain.'

'W-well your Excellency, it seems that S-Sonny-'

'I don't want to _hear_ about Sonny Blackbones!' he bellowed, bringing his fist down hard on the large desk, causing the water in his glass to jump and trickle over the edges.

'I want you to tell me how our plan to poison the boy, not only failed miserably, but was but a minor inconvenience to that damn president!'

'I a-apologise, it seemed foolproof-'

'Only a fool like you could mess this up, Harris! I expect you to report back to me in twenty four hours with a new plan that even _you_ couldn't screw up!'

'Y-yes Sir.'

Harris scurried out of the office, trying to put as much distance between him and the duke as possible. He slumped against the door once it was closed, dramatically wiping a small layer of sweat from his forehead. Maddox wasn't nearly as frightening as Bleylock, but did have his moments. As he cautiously made his way to the makeshift office, he couldn't help but think how this was all so strange; once, Duke Maddox despised Bleylock and what he stood for. Granted, his concern was simply for the image of Technoid and how damaging it would be for his reputation if a rogue employee attempted galactic domination, but the moment Benson had come to the general and revealed that Zain had a son he would no doubt die for, even the chief executive of Technoid was nipping at Bleylock's heels to get what he wanted. Ah, the typical businessman.

'Well, might as well get to work,' Harris sighed, racking his brain for another plan that would satisfy _his highness._

* * *

'Dad, no.'

'Son, you can't come looking like you've just rolled out of bed.'

'Okay, one, I_ have_ just rolled out of bed, and two, I didn't want to go in the first place.'

'Oh hush, we need to put a stop this ridiculous journalism, now hold still.'

Micro-Ice pouted as his father pulled a sky-blue tie over his head, twisting the two ends over each other and forming a perfect knot.

'I look stupid. Footballers aren't supposed to wear suits!'

'You're the son of the president first and foremost, now put on the jacket.'

Zain failed to restrain a chuckle as Micro-Ice sullenly pulled on the expensive suit jacket and glared at his father. Honestly, the boy cleaned up nicely; even if his hair gave away the obvious indication that he didn't belong in this attire.

'Are you ready to go, boys?' Mana asked as she marched in, her new heels clicking on the wooden floor.

'We're ready Mana.'

The middle aged woman looked at the two in front of her; to her amusement, they were wearing matching grey suits.

'You two look adorable,' she snickered, pulling a camera from the black clutch bag, which matched her business-like dress.

'Mooom,' the teenager whined, shooting his father a death glare.

'I thought you might like it, Mana.'

'You traitor.'

'Leave your tie alone, son.'

'Don't you even-'

'Smile!'

Micro-Ice stopped mid-sentence, the blinding flash from the camera distracting him. He watched as his mother smirked at the photo before popping the device back into her bag and turning around, fully intending to send it to every family member she could think of.

'Well, let's go,' Zain smiled, leading the small family through the door of the hotel, through the swarm of reporters trying to slyly sneak even a snippet of information out of the three and into the limo, turning to his son as he gave the signal for his driver to speed off towards the large conference hall.

'Now son, I'm assuming that I don't need to go over how to behave when the whole galaxy is watching you?'

'Stand quietly beside Mom, shoulders back, head high, hands clasped behind my back, speak only when spoken to,' he said in one breath, sucking in a greedy lungful of air and finishing, 'and don't fiddle.'

Zain smiled in satisfaction as his son blurted out what was expected of him today without hesitating.

'See? Who needs Math when you know how to stand quietly for hours on end listening to your old man speak?'

Micro-Ice muttered some incoherent, irritated thoughts as the limo sped towards the hall which was, not long ago, the sight of a warzone.

* * *

D'Jok settled beside Mei on the large couch in the Snowkids' lounge, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend and dropping the popcorn on his lap. Rocket flicked the holo-TV on with the flick of a button on the remote. The screen flickered to life, revealing Callie Mystic standing in a large hall surrounded by other well known journalists.

'I thought Callie Mystic was a sports reporter, what's she doing at a conference?' Thran asked out loud, loudly slurping his soda.

'Who else could weasel information out of politicians like her?' D'Jok scoffed, still a bit bitter about her news report on his new outfit.

'Shh! It's starting,' Tia scolded, turning to the screen to see three people making their way onto the stage.

As they watched Zain make his way to the micro-phone, D'Jok's jaw hit the ground at the sight.

'Is Micro-Ice wearing a… suit?' D'Jok squeaked.

'You didn't expect him to go in his jersey, did you?' Tia scoffed, the idea absurd to her.

'Oh yeah, just 'cause you know all about politics.'

'_Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this-'_

'It's starting!'

'We know that Mei,' D'Jok sighed, trying to hear over his girlfriend's excitement.

'_I am well aware that the recent news regarding myself and family may have come as a shock to you all.'_

The Snowkids and staff scoffed.

'_However, I am sure that you are aware that even we need our privacy. I regret to inform you that just this week, my son's hotel room had been broken into, swarmed and torn apart by journalists who have been issued a restraining order. This sort of behaviour will __**not **__be tolerated by __**any**__ of you!'_

Those occupying the lounge in the Snowkids' hotel were slightly taken aback by the venom in the man's voice. The camera zoomed in to reveal the other two members of the small family looking at each other in surprise.

'Told you he was overprotective,' Shiloh snorted, relaxing back into the cushions of the sofa, all the while thinking how welcome of a surprise it was to see Micro-Ice in a suit as opposed to his usual worn out hoodie and tracksuit bottoms.

'_If you choose to ignore this warning, I am afraid action will need to be taken to ensure the safety of my family. Therefore, if anything like this happens again, I will be forced to cancel news coverage of the final in several days' time.'_

The camera once again turned to Micro-Ice, who gaped at his father. It wasn't until his mother gave him a nudge to the ribs that he was able to compose himself. The faces of the Snowkids and staff were one of pure horror.

'He… He's not serious coach,' D'Jok shuddered.

'Is he?' Rocket asked, turning to Aarch.

'_Are there any questions?'_

The screen came alive with screaming journalists who were dying to get new information from the powerful politician.

_'Steven Moore, ZTV News.'_

_'This question is for Micro-Ice.'_

Micro-Ice looked towards his father nervously, shuffling towards the microphone and clearing his throat when Zain gave the go-ahead-signal, recoiling when hundreds of bright flashes threatened to destroy his eyesight.

_'Okay… Erm, go ahead, I guess?'_

_'Micro-Ice, do you feel obliged to take over as president when your father retires?'_

_'I wasn't planning to-'_

_'Do you feel that your football career is suffering due to your reported illness?'_

_'I don't think-'_

_'How has family life been since you discovered that President Zain was your father?'_

_'I've always known th-'_

_'What can you tell us about the scars on your wrists?'_

_'M-my wrists?'_

_'Are you a self-harmer?'_

_'What? No! I-'_

_'Okay, that's enough!'_

Zain stormed to his son's side, taking the microphone from him and glaring daggers at the press as Micro-Ice stalked back towards his mother. Zain stormed off the stage without another word, taking his stunned ex-wife and son with him. Before he descended the steps, he turned once more towards the gossip hungry press.

_'I do not appreciate less than sympathetic attitudes towards my family. If you choose to cross that line again, I will not be as lenient as I am being today.'_

With that, they were gone.


	37. The Final: Part One

CHPT37

**Wow, this turd of a chapter caused some problems. Got me a new laptop, so I managed to get this done and dusted with several cups of coffee and heaps of shortbread. It's past 3am here, so like a normal person, I'm gonna go sleep. Happy New Year to all of you guys! x**

* * *

'Hello, dear holo-viewers. This is Callie Mystic reporting to you live from Genesis Stadium, which is buzzing with activity in anticipation for the Galactik Football Cup Final, which will take place in just a matter of hours! I'm here with Artegor Nexus, assistant coach of the Snowkids, who will compete with the Xenons for the most treasured possession in the world of the GFC. Artegor, what are your predictions for the match?'

'The Snowkids have been training hard, and have shown great potential in training. We'll see what happens on the field; however, Aarch and I are both rather confident that they will take the cup,' he drawled, trying to block out the journalist's chirpy voice.

'And the Xenons?'

'The Xenons are a magnificent team, I must admit; however, these kids are champions, and they will fight to keep their title.'

'What about the health of your players?'

'There were a few... mishaps during training, but all of our players have been given the go-ahead, and they will all be on the field today.'

'There you have it, dear viewers; Artegor Nexus on today's match! We'll be chatting to the fans after a message from our sponsor.'

* * *

Micro-Ice stretched his arms above his head with a small grunt, throwing his head back to look at D'Jok.

'Think we can take 'em?'

'We'll pummel them into the ground,' the redhead smirked, adjusting his shin guards.

'If you say so, captain,' the smaller striker chuckled.

D'Jok rolled his eyes and stood up straight, ruffling his little brother's hair and laughing at the childish pout he was given.

They were interrupted by a figure looming over them, which caused both teenagers to look up with a yelp. Above them stood D'Jok's father, who was unsuccessfully attempting to hold back a snicker.

'Oh, hi Dad,' D'Jok said, trying to act as nonchalant as possible, 'what brings you here?'

'Just doing a quick patrol. Remember what I told you, boys.'

'Dad, we're fine.'

Sonny raised an eyebrow, folding his arms across his chest, as if saying _we'll see about that_. He looked up as Corso peeked his head in through the door after ensuring all of the players were decent. The second-in-command walked towards the trio with a grim expression on his face.

'Bennett and Artie have identified a large reading of flux somewhere in the stadium.'

Sonny narrowed his eyes, mentally drawing out escape routes should something happen that would risk the lives of those who had come to watch the match. He demanded that Corso take him to his fellow Pirates, leaving the two strikers to contemplate what had just happened.

* * *

Mana-Ice handed Zain a party hat, which adorned the Snowkids' logo. He grudgingly put it on and returned his attention to the party streamers he was assigned to put up. Mei's father had taken on a purple tinge from blowing up so many balloons, while his wife unsympathetically scolded him for not going fast enough or giving it the wrong quantity of air. Standing on her tiptoes, Shiloh assisted D'Jok's adoptive mother in putting up the large _congratulations_ banner.

'Hey Mana, what happens if they lose?'

The mother in question turned to glare at the teenager, and Shiloh could have sworn that she heard an inhuman growl coming from her. Zain waved his hands frantically, which acted as a non-verbal warning to _take that back._

'They won't lose.'

'Well, what if they did? Hypothetically of course,' she tried, hopeful that she would at least live to see the final.

'Then we run like all Hell back here and take everything down.'

Shiloh nodded, turning away from the banner to admire her handiwork. Maya leaned in close to her ear as she was walking past.

'Sleep with your eyes open tonight.'

The teenage girl looked curious at the medium, who gave her a grim look that said_ I know what happens; I'm psychic, remember? _She nodded, picking up a nearby box labelled _flags_ and passed it to the twins' mother, who accepted it and in return asked her to help Keira set out the cutlery.

* * *

Duke Maddox watched as the transportation devices descended onto the thick glass field, stopping to allow both teams to hop off. The Snowkids, he noted, leapt off the pad with far less grace than the Xenons; a reminder that they were still kids.

'Harris,' he grunted, looking towards the assistant on his right, 'is everything ready to go?'

'Yes, Your Excellency.'

The former leader of Technoid nodded briefly, turning back to the game.

* * *

'Hey Micro-Ice?'

'Hm?'

'What was Sonny talking about earlier in the locker room? Is there a problem? He looked kind of... Off.'

'I don't really know, Mei,' he admitted, 'something to do with a large flux reading in the stadium, but he left right after that.'

Mei considered this for a moment, looking at her team mate sceptically.

'It's the Galactik Football Final, nearly every player in the galaxy is here right now either watching or playing; isn't that normal?'

'I'm not sure. Maybe.'

There was a tense silence among the team as they took their positions, measuring themselves compared to their reptile counterparts. D'Jok glared at the star player, Luur, as he hopped up and down on his tip toes. The buzzer sounded moments later, indicating that the match had begun. The stadium erupted into a roar of excitement as the two captains launched themselves into the air. D'Jok watched in horror as Luur shot the ball towards Ahito from his current position, still afloat with the aid of his flux.

'Ahito, look alive!'

Said goalkeeper registered the striker's scream as the ball came hurtling towards him, smacking him full force on the head and ricocheting off, only to be stopped by Mei and passed to Tia. Thran sprinted towards his little brother, who looked a little dizzy.

'You okay, little brother? Are you hurt?'

_'Ahito, are you okay?'_ Aarch's concerned voice demanded from the keeper's earpiece.

'Gah!' he exclaimed, trying to regain his composure, which took a few minutes, by which time Rocket was trying to dribble past one of the large opponents, 'I'm fine.'

_'Good, now stay focused! Thran, get back in position!'_

The older twin give his brother a thumbs up before jogging back to where Mei stood, waiting anxiously for their next attack on the goal post.

* * *

'Where is it, Bennett?' Sonny requested, coming to stand behind the blonde Pirate to look at his screen, immediately identifying a blinking red dot which confirmed the presence of a large concentration of flux.

'This way,' he exclaimed, pointing down a wide corridor before the four men took off running.

Artie looked at his watch, dismayed that he was, yet again, missing the GFC final to foil Technoid's plans for Galactic Domination, which all seemed to take place during the final. And they had the nerve to call themselves football lovers.

'It should be just around this corner, Sonny.'

The foursome stopped in their tracks as they came to an abandoned part of the stadium. Corso immediately slammed the door open, coming face to face with a large machine glowing with a muted hue.

'What d'ya think it is, Sonny?' Artie asked in awe, approaching the large container.

'I'm not sure,' he admitted, shaking his head, 'but it can't be anything good.'

Artie touched the device with the palm of his hand, recoiling with a pained hiss.

'Holy Smog, that thing's hot!' the youngest Pirate growled, shaking his hand aroung madly.

'Grow up, Artie. It's just a little burn.'

'Oh yeah? Then you touch it, Corso.'

'No. I'm not a moron.'

Sonny walked towards a large control panel attached to the mysterious machine. He scrutinised every detail, from the tiniest blinking lights to the giant red button in the middle. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion; if this was what they thought it was, the galaxy was in serious trouble.

'Bennett, I need you to run an analysis on this thing. I'm going back to the locker room; there's no telling when or where they'll strike.'

* * *

_'Block him; don't let him through!'_

The two defenders sprinted towards the oncoming striker for the umpteenth time today, preparing to tackle the Xenon with everything they had in them. Time seemed to slow as the ball stormed through the defence, narrowly missed Ahito's waiting hands and hit the back of the net. D'Jok gritted his teeth in annoyance, glaring at the smug Xenon, who had just smiled tauntingly at his girlfriend. Micro-Ice appeared to notice this, as he jogged towards his friend.

'It's okay, D'Jok. We'll get the next one; it's only the end of the first half.'

'I'm not so sure,' the captain sighed, looking at his feet, 'they're a strong team.'

'So are we, dude,' the younger smirked, reaching up to tap his friend's shoulder, 'you're starting to sound like some melodramatic chic.'

The obnoxious buzzer sounded for half time, allowing the defenders to take a breather; they had been blocking, tackling and running around like headless chickens for over half an hour. Sore and solemn, the team boarded the pod and were carried towards the changing room, where Sonny was waiting.

* * *

Mana-Ice huffed as the first half finished, as did several of the parents. Zain slumped in his seat as he threw a chip into his mouth.

'Well, at least it's only one-nil. It could be worse,' the politician tried, turning to the teenager on his left for encouragement.

'Err... Yeah. They only need two goals in a half hour, right?'

Mei's mother grunted in reply, a sour expression plastered on her face. Her husband slowly scooted away from her, afraid that she was about to spontaneously combust.

'Sir?'

Zain turned around to see a young usher standing in the entrance to the parents' pod, looking slightly intimidated. He smiled reassuringly at the man to let him know that he wasn't going to rip his heart out and feed it to the steaming demon that was Mei's mother a few seats behind him.

'Yes?'

'You're needed in the Snowkids' locker room; apparently it's urgent.'

The president stretched and stood up, passing his chips to the confused mother beside him before following the young man out the door.

* * *

Artegor looked at the glum teenagers; they had given it their all, but the Xenons appeared to be purposely trying to throw the young players off their game, and it was working. Aarch had gone to speak with the parents of the two strikers on an important issue, leaving him to sort out this mess. Something neither the team nor the assistant coach were happy about.

'Okay, Snowkids. It's time for a new strategy. D'Jok?'

The captain perked up at the mention of his name, looking up to meet the face of Artegor, who was awaiting an answer. He looked down as he started to formulate a new plan of action.

'Well, we definitely need to strengthen our defence; me and Micro-Ice are just waiting around for something to happen up there. We should all play more defensive,' he explained, not looking up from his position on the bench as he affectionately massaged Mei's shoulders, hoping to ease some of her tension.

'We can't _just _be defensive; we need goals, D'Jok,' Rocket intervened with his arms crossed over his chest, determined to lead the team in the right direction despite no longer being the captain.

'I know; but we need possession to score. That's why we should concentrate on getting the ball away from them. Then, we strike.'

Artegor nodded in approval, pleased to see that the thick air of tension in the room had not affected the negotiation of strategies between the two.

'Wouldn't they be expecting that?' Tia asked, finding an obvious weakness in their plan.

'Perhaps,' Artegor responded, 'however, what they would not be expecting is for you all to use your flux at the same time.'

The Snowkids excitedly agreed, cherishing the idea of using the Breath as one and combining their energy to defeat one of their strongest opponents yet. Micro-Ice lazily raised his hand.

'One small problem with your plan; I can't use it. Sonny's orders,' he shrugged.

'Exactly. The Xenons will not consider you a threat. Therefore, they'll be busy marking your team mates, leaving you wide open.'

A devious smile came to Micro-Ice's face at the idea, 'I like it.'

* * *

The three men entered the room which housed the mysterious machine; the walk there consisted of Aarch demanding what was so important that he had to be led away from his team and Sonny responding with a vague _you'll see_. Zain remained silent as they gave the device a once-over.

'What is it?' Zain asked, stepping closer with his son's coach in tow, 'a bomb?'

'No, it's tested negative for every kind of bomb; but we're not quite sure what it is.'

Aarch looked to the Pirate who had just spoken; Bennett, he believed his name was.

'It's got a timer though,' Artie pitched in, fiddling with a few buttons on a small device that was connected to the container by a short cable.

'When is it set to go off?'

'The middle of the second half. Go figure.'

Zain looked at Corso in confusion, who just sighed.

'These things always happen in the second half of a cup final.'

'What time is it now?'

Artie looked at his watch and gulped. He chanced a look at his leader, who had on his best poker face, but still had some tell-tale signs of concern in his features.

'It's... Set to go off in three minutes.'

Sonny saw red.


	38. The Final: Part Two

CHPT38

**Was going to combine this chapter with the next one, but I wanted to get this out ASAP, or it would never have been written. As always, thank you to those who have read and reviewed this far. Happy reading! **

* * *

D'Jok plodded through the Xenon defence with Micro-Ice in tow. The strategy was working perfectly; Micro-Ice's marker was certain that his little brother wasn't much of a threat, and had decided to stay closer to Tia and Rocket in midfield. He glanced over to his fellow striker, seeing a thick sheen of sweat covering his face as he concentrated on staying upright in his exhausted state; it _was_ the final, after all, and without the use of the flux, your energy could drain pretty damn quick. A growing green blob was approaching and taking shape out of the corner of his eye, which told D'Jok that Luur was thundering down the field.

_Too little, too late._

The redhead jumped into the air, taking the ball with him in a cloud of blue flux, just as Micro-Ice positioned himself in the centre of the penalty area. The star striker shot it down towards his little brother, who needed to angle this just right. As expected, Micro-Ice aimed it perfectly; slamming the ball into the corner of the goalpost, confusing the keeper as the ball was smacked into the back of the net by a still-waiting, airborne D'Jok. However, before they could celebrate, several dozen Technoid robots descended from the bleachers, surrounding the strikers.

Micro-Ice and D'Jok stood frozen as they started to move in. The shorter of the two craned his neck to whisper in his team mate's ear.

'Uh, D'Jok, what did you do?'

A shriek of D'Jok's name came from the distressed defender, who was sprinting towards the army of tin cans.

That was when all Hell broke loose.

Mei's scream knocked the pair out of their trance, causing the older striker to grasp Micro-Ice's upper arm, pulling him along as he jumped over the wall using his flux, over the net and into the bleachers closest to the field.

* * *

'How could you predict my washing machine breaking down but not this?!' Mana-Ice screamed at her clairvoyant friend, who was also in a distressed state following the attack.

'Do you really want to discuss this now?!'

'Well, at least they scored?' Shiloh tried, laughing nervously.

It was dangerous to threaten Mana-Ice's baby; something she teased him about frequently. She recalled one time when they had been doing their Math homework in Mana-Ice's previous place of work, a bar with a reputation for being the main watering hole for ruffians and thugs on Akillian. A heavily intoxicated man had approached them, hurling insults at the two teenagers. Mana had witnessed everything; the night had resulted in an ambulance having to be called for said man, who was treated for minor head injuries and a fractured rib.

She winced as the two women stormed out of the booth, purple with anger and ready to destroy anyone that got in their way.

_Well, this should be interesting._

* * *

'What do you _mean_ you can't shut them down?!'

Artie winced at Zain's tone, trying to pry the hysterical man's hands from his shirt.

'I-I can't overwrite it!'

The president growled and released the Pirate before running after the chief, fuelled purely by adrenaline, he managed to catch up to him, going at a speed that would put GFC players to shame. He grabbed the Pirate chief by the shoulder as he ran, only to be punched on the nose by the man in front of him. He let out an undignified wail as he grabbed the bleeding appendage, hopping up and down as he waited for the stinging to subside. Sonny turned on his heel to see that he had just punched the President of the Zaelion Galaxy in the _face, _wincing, he tried to calm the overreacting man down.

'Sir, I'm so sorry!'

'Ow, ow, ow!'

'Your Excellency, it's okay...'

'Oh Flux, you broke my nose!'

'It's not broken-'

'Oh God! Oh God, you broke-'

_SMACK!_

'Sir, we don't have time for this, D'Jok and Micro-Ice are in trouble!'

The politician stood in shocked silence for a few moments, wide eyed.

'You... You _hit_ me!'

'You were rambling, Sir.'

'Mr. Blackbones... You _hit_ me!'

'If you don't listen to me, I'll have to hit you again; I am a patient man, but our sons are going to be _killed_ if you don't calm down!'

* * *

'Do you know where you're going?' Micro-Ice panted as they ran for their lives from the robots, which had clearly been upgraded, as they were a heck of a lot faster than either of them remembered.

'Nope.'

'Winging it?'

'Yep.'

'Super.'

They stopped abruptly as more robots rounded the corner. Micro-Ice yanked D'Jok down yet another corridor, cursing silently to himself; they had to be running out of hallways and hiding places.

'I don't freaking believe it! They're playing on!'

The diminutive striker growled menacingly at his friend, who was watching the match through a large window with an indignant expression plastered on his face. Micro-Ice followed his gaze, and, sure enough, the match was still under way with the Snowkids hanging tough despite being two players short. The sound clunking metal came from behind them, followed closely by a shot and a sharp, pained yelp.

* * *

Harris smiled as the robots descended onto the pitch, relishing in the shrieks of the crowd in the stadium when the spectators should have been cheering the Snowkids on following their equaliser. Technoid had been working on a new synthetic flux to increase the efficiency of their robots before President Zain placed the company under government control. Luckily, they had managed to smuggle all plans from the premises from right under his nose, meaning that he had still been unaware of the threat to his son. The boy had been instructed to avoid using the Breath of Akillian, that much was obvious, and had worn out far faster than his other team mates. It was just a matter of time before the robots brought the boy to him, which would in turn have Zain on his knees, begging to hand Technoid back over to Duke Maddox. Of course, there would be no such happy ending; the President would be disposed of when he had served his purpose, but he supposed he could find use for the boy; he was young and had a fine physique from playing football, certainly ideal for working in the mines. Alas, yet again there was one obstacle, which became more apparent when the son of his adversary grabbed the boy and leapt into the crowd, not that he expected much else, of course. However, this would undoubtedly lead to a determined Sonny Blackbones charging into the booth demanding the release of both teenagers; he'd have to kill D'Jok on the spot in order to break the Pirate long enough to finish him. What a pity, it would be a fine accomplishment to have the leader of the Shiloh Pirates waiting on his hand and foot. Then again, he could simply have Zain's boy carrying out such duties; wouldn't that just be delightful?

'Harris, what's taking them so long?' a gruff voice asked.

'Your Excellency, I can assure you that-'

The words died on his lips when two figures leapt from one of the top windows, the stadium falling into a shocked silence.

'You can assure me of what, Harris?'

'I-I, uh...'

* * *

Sonny made a mad dash down the next hallway, determined to find the scum that threatened D'Jok and Micro-Ice. The robots had been improved, that much was certain, and they were more of a danger now than they had ever been. If anything happened to either of those kids... He didn't want to think about it; nothing was going to happen, they would be fine. He swallowed past the lump in his throat at the mere thought of the implication. He looked over at the politician, who was running alongside him clasping a tissue to his nose, despite the fact that the bleeding had stopped long ago. The situation would have been comical had it not been for the risk to their childrens' safety. The Pirate grunted in frustration as he came to another dead end.

'Damn it!'

'This is ridiculous,' Zain sighed, leaning his head back against the wall in frustration, throwing the red tissue into a nearby bin, 'we'll never find them.'

'Yes, we will.'

'And if they've already been caught?'

Sonny desperately hoped that this wasn't true, but it wasn't looking good at all; Micro-Ice was still iffy from the operation, which meant that D'Jok would be left to bring both of them to safety. If the situation called for it, he'd give up his life for his son. However, it wouldn't be that easy; Technoid were crafty, and were known to be notorious in making deals they would never keep.

'Then we go get them back.'

He blanched when he heard a muffled scream, as though someone was being killed right above them, and judging from Zain's horrified expression, he wasn't imagining it.

* * *

D'Jok barely caught his best friend as he jumped towards him, having barely dodged the shot that was fired at his head. He watched in horror as the younger of the two clutched his shoulder; the shot may have missed its intended target, but it had skimmed him. Micro-Ice regarded the semi-circle of robots surrounding them, and started to hyperventilate; he couldn't go back to being Technoid's prisoner, who knew what they would do to him if they actually got what they wanted from his father this time? Bleylock had come pretty damn close to taking over the galaxy, almost dropping him into a giant propeller in the process. Healing scars started to ache anew at his train of thought. His eyes darted madly around the corridor, willing Sonny Blackbones to come and save the day. The machines moved in, chanting _'you are under arrest'_ in sync with each other. A startled yip sounded from him as he was roughly yanked out the window, flying through the air under D'Jok's arm and screaming in a pitch that a boy his age shouldn't have been able to reach. The strange feeling of being pulled upwards made him look up, narrowing his eyes as he saw the familiar contraption D'Jok was using.

'You had a portable zip-line the_ whole time_?!'

'Yep.'

'Dude; these jerseys don't even have pockets!'

'You'd be surprised how roomy the shoes can be.'

He clutched D'Jok's hand as they hung in mid air, the line having tangled itself onto one of the many bars holding up the electronic score board. D'Jok willed himself to look back to the place they had jumped from, where the robots were waiting...

… Or, they had been; apparently D'Jok wasn't the only one who had borrowed Pirate weaponry. Multiple machines were making their way towards the strikers at an alarming speed on their own mechanical chord.

'Nice going, captain,' Micro-Ice dead-panned, though D'Jok could detect a hint of worry in his voice.

He ignored him in favour of assessing the situation, as he was trained to do as captain.

_Let's see_, he thought, _a hundred foot drop; probably more, new and improved Technoid robots closing in, no sign of dad and- oh great- the line's jammed... Yep, we're screwed._


End file.
